


I'll Crawl Home to Her

by callusedsilk



Series: Work Song [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel, Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Depression, F/M, IF YOU NEED SOMETHING TAGGED PLEASE ASK AND I'LL ADD IT, M/M, Most canon is ignored at this point, Multi, Only Ever Consensual Sex, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Sex, Tony Stark critical, Violence, specific warnings at beginning of chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:48:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 100,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26803147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callusedsilk/pseuds/callusedsilk
Summary: Bucky has finally made his way home into the arms of the people he loves and it's better than any of them could have dreamed. Steve, Bucky, and Vivian have friends, family, and evenallies. They're not alone in their quest to keep Bucky and Vivian out of prison or worse, but that's not the only thing they have to worry about. Hydra's still out there and they're not the only ones. The real fight has just begun.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s), James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Work Song [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/984381
Comments: 89
Kudos: 46





	1. One: 2015

**Author's Note:**

> The first few chapters of this story will be reposts from No Grave Can Hold My Body Down. I do plan on having this cover events from post-TWS to probably post Endgame, although I will be using almost nothing from Civil War, Infinity War, or Endgame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: there's a very casual mention of some of the torture Vivian went through (no actual details) and for the most part there's just a lot of discussion about sex.
> 
> Oh and technically there are spoilers for _From Russia, with Love_ and _Princess Bride_.
> 
> Also, I'm posting this on 6/28 at 12:05 pm cst so hopefully it doesn't take days for the e-mail to go out.
> 
> Originally posted as chapter 42 on June 28th, 2020. Reposted on October 3rd, 2020.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out. It was just an idea. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do!"

Bucky smiled softly, watching Steve's shoulders slump in relief with just that one facial expression. He then shook his head and sighed, "Steve, calm down before you give yourself an asthma attack."

"I don't have asthma anymore and you know it," Steve grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.

Vivian gently rubbed his back, "He knows, babe. He was just teasing you."

Bucky glanced down at the invitation Steve had excitedly handed him and frowned, "Have either of you gone to one of these before?"

Steve shook his head, "Your nieces and nephews text me about these Howling reunions, but the last few times I was busy when they were going on."

"And I haven't actually visited them yet at all," Vivian said with a shrug.

" _Really_?" Bucky asked, surprised.

Vivian nodded, "Yeah, just felt weird. Didn't know how to tell them about… _all of this_."

Steve sighed, "I told Maggie and Ida about what's going on and they told their grandparents."

"Becca knows?" Bucky whispered, his heart racing. "About me?"

Steve nodded, "Yeah. Becca, Lizzie and Ida all know. Ida's grandson James was there to keep an eye on them the entire time. He's a doctor. He made sure they were all okay."

"James?" Bucky whispered.

Steve smiled and chuckled, "Yeah. James is, to no one's surprise, a favorite name for the oldest son anyone has."

Bucky blushed bright red and grumbled, "Steve's probably a name they give to the son if they think he's gonna be a pain in the ass."

Vivian snorted and Steve pinched her side before he sighed, "Joking aside, it's not just gonna be Becca's family. It's gonna be the families of all the Howling Commandos. It's a huge reunion they do once a year to keep in touch. We got invited, but if you think it's going to overwhelm you, we don't have to go."

"So what? I can charge into battle, but I can't even sit through a family get together? What the fuck would that say about me?" Bucky scoffed.

"It doesn't say a damn thing about you," Steve said, his expression firm. "You wouldn't be the first war hero that doesn't react well to large groups of civilians. And if you can't meet that many people at once, they'll understand. We can start out small. We can start off with your sisters and some of their grandkids."

"We can make sure all of the family knows a rundown of what to do and not to do before we show up," Vivian said with a shrug. "At least a few of them will already know though since I looked through the list of people that got sent to Steve and at least one of them is an agent within SHIELD still. The other left SHIELD after the whole fiasco in DC."

"Really?" Bucky asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

Vivian nodded, "Yeah. Antoine Triplett. Gabe's grandson. He works with Coulson. And then there's Sharon Carter, Peggy's niece. She works for the CIA now. Steve's already met her though."

"I have?" Steve asked, his brow furrowing. "I think I would have known if I met Peggy's niece."

"Agent 13?" Vivian asked, tilting her head slightly.

Steve paled and then whispered, "Shit, Peggy's niece was _spying on me_?" Bucky chuckled, but then rolled his eyes as Steve groaned, " _Fuck_ , I asked her if she wanted a cup of coffee. _She thought I was flirting with her_."

"You do know you don't have to stick to a single family when you try to hook up with people that aren't us, right?" Vivian teased.

"As far as I know, neither the guy in the club or Clint are related to Peggy," Steve insisted.

Bucky sighed and joked, "It's not fair. You two got to fuck other people and I didn't."

"I vote Thor and say we get to watch," Vivian announced.

"Wait, hold on," Steve said, holding up his hands. "First of all, Thor's got a girlfriend. They're still together. Second of all…" Steve trailed off and his cheeks went pink.

"Oh right, I forgot that Steve wants to get fucked by Thor," Vivian teased.

"We _all_ want to get fucked by Thor," Bucky interrupted, causing Steve to choke on thin air.

"Vivian came close to having sex with Tony," Steve announced.

Vivian rolled her eyes, "I was seducing him for a mission and I barely touched him. Neither of us were ever naked. He never orgasmed, and he got arrested for his troubles. The only person in this room who's had sex with an Avenger that's not you is you because you had sex with Clint all over that DC apartment."

"Nothing with Natasha?" Bucky asked curiously.

Steve shook his head, "Plenty of people think we're together, but she's basically dating Clint at this point. Natasha and I kissed once while on the run to stop ourselves from getting caught, but that's it."

"Anything with Bruce Banner?" Vivian asked.

Steve shook his head vehemently, "No. Word is he's got a girlfriend that he can't see most of the time. Or at least had her as a girlfriend. Bruce keeps to himself."

"And then of course you hit on Sam while running," Vivian added.

Steve blushed bright red as he grumbled, "It was just a little bit of flirting. It didn't mean much. And he's got his eye on someone."

"Who?" Vivian asked.

Steve shrugged, "I asked him last time we hung out, but he said he didn't want to jinx it with her yet."

Bucky chuckled, but then blushed and rolled his eyes when Vivian said, "We can help you hook up with someone if you're feeling left out though. Ooh, maybe you can see if Matt wants a quickie."

Bucky sent a bland stare over at Vivian and shrugged, "Didn't really think much about that while I stayed with him. Although the man does have a weird gift to find the prettiest girl in a room."

"Why is that--oh _never mind_ ," Steve said, looking more than a little sheepish.

"Chances are Matt would hit on Vivian long before he'd ever consider hooking up with me," Bucky concluded with a shrug. "Although sometimes I thought him and Foggy had something going on." Pausing, he then asked, "How did we even get to this conversation?"

"We were talking about the guest list to the reunion and I mentioned how Steve nearly had sex with his ex's niece."

"I did _not_ ," Steve said, his voice raised. "I asked her over for coffee. _Coffee_. I wasn't hitting on her!"

"Sure you weren't," Vivian teased.

"I really wasn't," Steve said, his voice coming close to being his Captain voice. "At the time I thought she was a blonde nurse and I realized it wouldn't be fair to try something with her when the _only_ reason I wanted her was because she reminded me of _you_."

Bucky winced and Vivian looked guilty as Steve shoved his hands into his pockets and confessed, "Clint was someone I got along with, but didn't remind me of you a ton, Buck, other than the fact that you're both handsome and good snipers. But you weren't the only sniper I worked with in the war. Clint was…it was more that he was good at making _me_ forget who I was and who he was. He was good at just having it be a fun time. I could just focus on _that_."

"I'm sorry, Steve, I didn't mean to push," Vivian whispered.

"I'm okay," Steve said, taking a deep breath. "This wasn't supposed to be the point of the conversation."

"All right, fine, we'll stay on task," Bucky sighed. "Anything else I need to know about this upcoming reunion?"

Steve squirmed a bit before he confessed, "We actually have a few months until it happens. The reunion itself is taking place in DC the week of my birthday. Because it's in DC, I'll be stopping by and seeing Peggy. I'll also be there for the unveiling of the new Howling Commandos exhibit in the Smithsonian. Neither of you are required to do either of those things, but I would like you to be there."

Bucky frowned, "I don't think I want to go to the Smithsonian thing. I'm sorry. Just…all those cameras…I don't think I can--"

Steve crossed the room and gently squeezed his arms as he shushed him, "Hey, no, I meant it. That wasn't a guilt thing. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. If neither of you want to even travel to DC with me, I won't be mad. Not even a passive aggressive guilt thing. I want you to only do what you're comfortable with."

Bucky sighed, thinking about it before he said, "I will go with you to DC and I will go see Peggy with you, but I will have to think about the full reunion. I just…I don't want the reunion to turn into some big fuckin' welcome home party for me or something."

"I'll talk to Maggie," Steve insisted.

Bucky glanced over at Viv, smiling softly as she blushed. Motioning her over, Bucky wrapped an arm around her and pulled her next to him once she was close enough. She rolled her eyes and he pressed a kiss to her cheek as he teased, "What about you, kitten?"

"No to the Smithsonian. Yes to the meeting with Peggy. Yes to the reunion as long as everyone promises to be cool and not call the cops. Also if Bucky decides not to go and doesn't want me to go either, it'll turn into a no."

"I wouldn't make you stay behind with me," Bucky said, brow furrowing in confusion.

"I know," Vivian said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "But all you have to do is ask."

Bucky smiled, but then sighed, "Wait, you said my sisters are going to be there?" Steve nodded and Bucky grumbled, "Might as well tell them we'll all be there so I don't have to get a call from Becca recycling Ma's old guilt trips on me."

Steve chuckled, "I don't think she'd actually use that on you. She's just glad to have you back, but if you're sure, I can text Maggie now."

"Do it before I change my mind. I'll…" Bucky inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. "I'll figure out how to deal with the event when it gets here. May only interact a little bit."

Bucky smiled as Vivian pressed a soft kiss to his shoulder and Steve grinned, "That's more than enough, Buck."

Steve then went to typing away on his phone and Bucky arched an eyebrow as Vivian pressed herself against his side. "You okay?" he murmured.

Viv nodded and whispered, "Yeah. Just missed getting to just do this." She then paused and frowned, "Out of the three of us, you've had the hardest time over the years--"

" _That's a fucking lie_ ," Bucky grumbled, wrapping his arm around Vivian's waist.

"I'm serious. You lost an arm and--"

"You really wanna compare limbs lost?" Bucky interrupted. "You lost every single one of your limbs multiple times. Only reason I've got this metal arm is because they learned how to make it from hurting _you_."

Vivian sent him a stare and continued, "You only had me to interact with basically--"

"Not a chore."

" _And_ you got put in that goddamn chair."

" _Only_ after they realized you heal too goddamn fast for them to use it on you regularly. You were their first choice."

" _Anyway_ , I got to interact with the real world a bit during all of that. You didn't, so I was serious about how if you wanted to--" Vivian shrugged.

"Viv…" Bucky sighed.

"I'm not saying you have to, but if you wanted to, Steve and I would support you."

"Matt found me on top of a gay bar," Bucky confessed. Vivian's eyes widened, and Bucky chuckled, "When I first found it, I just thought it was a loud bar that I could hide on top of. Only realized after watching it that it was a gay club. If I wanted to, I could have gone in there hooked up with someone. Weeks later, if I'd wanted to, I could have gone back there. Just…none of us were ever big on the 'fuck a stranger' thing."

Bucky nodded toward where Steve was off to the side, talking quietly into his phone and said, "Steve had a damn panic attack after he hooked up with a guy in a club. Do you think either of us would really be that better? You said it yourself you did next to nothing with Stark. And then the person you did get with was a woman you were becoming friends with. Steve hooked up with Clint _after they were friends._ I think the three of us have been too ride or die to do casual hookups with a stranger anymore."

"I just…"

"What?"

"I just don't want you to regret, you know…"

"Viv…I'm not going to lie to you and say I don't regret anything, because I do, but not a single one of those things is being with just you and Steve." She opened her mouth and Bucky shook his head, cutting her off with a kiss before he murmured, "No arguing." He kissed her again, kissing down to her neck and grinning as she giggled.

"I leave you two alone for five minutes," Steve sighed jokingly.

Nipping gently at Vivian's neck, Bucky smirked over at Steve while teasing, "Then maybe you shouldn't have left us alone."

Steve looked like he really wanted to join them, but then it was like everything got cut off at its knees as he sighed, "Tony invited us to hang out with everyone."

" _Really_?" Vivian scoffed.

Steve sent Vivian a pointed stare, "Yes. We don't have to hang out if you're not comfortable with it, but this is Tony reaching out."

"Did you finally tell him I'm here?" Bucky asked, arching an eyebrow.

Steve blushed bright red, "I told him the day after you showed up just to be polite, but he already knew. Tony will never admit it, but he'd already given you access to the tower without telling me since otherwise there's no way you would have been allowed in."

Bucky frowned, "I thought it was because Sam opened the door for me?"

Vivian shook her head, "Steve's right. Maybe someone can get you into the building, but you were alone in the elevator. Sam didn't take the trip with you to this floor and you can't come to this floor unless you're accompanied by someone with access _or you already have access_. I was able to come here because I arrived with Steve that first time. I got access afterward."

"Actually, you already had access too," Steve admitted, blushing slightly.

"Wait, _really_? But Stark hates me."

"He does not hate you," Steve said. Vivian scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I'm serious. He really doesn't hate either of you. After that meeting with Tony, I thought I would need to request access for you. So I asked Jarvis to put in the request. He told me that there was no need because you already had access to common floors and my floor. I asked when that had been approved and it was less than a week after I told him everything. That's weeks before we talked again. Bucky's access got approved then too."

"Then what was with that meeting?"

Steve shrugged, "My best guess is that it was posturing to cover up just how much pain he was in."

Bucky sighed and pressed a soft kiss to Vivian's temple before he pulled back and asked, "Steve, what do you want to do?"

Steve's expression crumpled and he sighed, "I…I had a really hard time when I first woke up. I didn't know what I was going to do and I didn't have anyone. Clint and Nat have been really good friends to me. Tony and I have had our ups and downs but sometimes I think we could be friends. There are moments where I think he's better than his dad was. And there are times when I think that we're more alike than either of us can ever stand. Sometimes we text and I can picture you and Becca botherin' each other at dinner."

"You want us to be part of that," Vivian sighed.

Steve nodded, "Yeah, I do, because the Avengers, no matter how crazy things are, were becoming family. Clint and Natasha definitely are at this point. So is Sam. And I don't want to…"

"You don't want to have to choose," Bucky said, closing his eyes and sighing.

"I'm sorry. If It came down to it, I would pick you, but I--"

"No, I get it," Bucky said, moving away from Viv and stepping closer to Steve. "You don't want your friends to be fighting with your significant others. Most people wouldn't want that."

Bucky sighed and rubbed his hands over his face before he reluctantly admitted, "Steve, I'm not _enthusiastic_ about hanging out with most of the Avengers. I'm just not, but they are important to you. That means I need to try at least once. We'll start from there."

Steve grinned widely only for his expression to smooth out seconds later. Bucky was pretty sure Steve had reminded himself to just not get _too excited_. Probably something about not guilting either of them. Whatever had stopped Steve from grinning like that was both a damn tragedy and also pretty damn adorable considering how hard Steve was trying not to smile.

The expression became as earnest as a puppy dog as Steve turned and looked at Vivian. Glancing back at Viv, Bucky felt an ache in his stomach as Vivian gave one of those fake smiles. For a moment she didn't say anything, just folded her arms across her chest and shrugged. Unfortunately, that meant that earnest expression slipped away as Steve quietly said, "Viv?"

"I just…" Vivian began before shaking her head. "Forget it. It’s stupid."

"I doubt that," Steve said, looking and sounding as tense as Bucky felt.

Bucky moved back to Viv's side and cupped her cheek in his hand. Her eyes slipped shut and he smiled, "C'mon, kitten. Talk to us."

"I just…I fucked up Tony's life. I fucked up Natasha's life. I hurt both of them. That means by extension I hurt Pepper and Clint. Everyone the Winter Soldier hurt is kind of my fault, so that hurts both of you and it hurt Sam and--"

"That was _not_ your fault," Steve and Bucky both snapped in unison.

Vivian shook her head, "If you're looking at this through cause and effect, it kind of is, and I don't know if you noticed, but even if you narrow it down to just four people, it'd be perfectly reasonable for them to not want me around during group hangout sessions. I'm tolerated in this tower, not welcome, and there _is_ a difference."

"None of them ever said that," Steve sighed. "And Tony specifically invited both of you. By name. He didn't even use nicknames. He's making an effort."

"Okay, but if it becomes incredibly obvious that no one wants me there, I'm coming back here and seeing exactly how much alcohol it takes to get me drunk while watching movies starring people that look like you two."

Bucky frowned, and opened his mouth to say something when Steve sighed, "Viv. That's not going to happen, and if it did, we would come back with you."

Vivian groaned, "You wouldn't need to do that. I promise I won't try to get drunk. I'll just watch movies. I'll be fine on my own." She then paused and held up a hand, "And before you do the whole 'end of the line' schtick, _I know_. I mean fine on my own for a few hours, not for the rest of our unnaturally long lives."

Bucky smiled softly and pulled Vivian back into his arms, smiling wider as she rolled her eyes, but immediately relaxed. He pressed a soft kiss to her neck, glancing up at Steve to see him watching them with a lovesick expression on his face.

"All right," Viv said. "I will go up there. I will make an effort. We will see how it goes." Steve relaxed and Bucky lifted Vivian up, grinning as she laughed loudly, "Buck!"

Steve shook his head and Bucky gave a playful nip to Vivian's hand as she reached up to touch his cheek. He carried her onto the elevator and she shook her head while pointing out, "Shouldn't we get changed or something first?"

Bucky glanced down at his own sweatpants and t-shirt and then at her leggings and crop top. Steve was wearing sweats and a t-shirt as well although Bucky was pretty sure the t-shirt was not his size at all. He then shook his head, "Nah, we look good."

Vivian rolled her eyes and hopped down from his arms, leaning up against the wall as the elevator stared without them saying anything. Steve stood next to Viv and admitted, "Usually at these things everyone's pretty well and good in comfortable clothing. Sometimes Clint doesn't even wear a shirt."

"Was that for your benefit?" Bucky teased.

Steve blushed bright red, "He…we…these group hang out times started after Clint and I stopped sleeping together."

"That doesn't mean he wasn't showing off for you," Bucky said with a shrug.

"He's probably showing off for Natasha," Steve sighed.

The doors opened and the three of them left it. Clint and Natasha were on a loveseat, signing rapidly to each other with a massive bowl of popcorn between them. Tony was sitting on a recliner with Pepper sitting on his lap. The only one who looked at them was Sam as he headed toward a recliner with a bowl of his own popcorn. That smile of his covered his face and he chuckled, "C'mon in. We're just about to start. You want some popcorn? Banner made enough for an entire army."

Clint grinned and waved while Natasha merely smirked. Steve returned the wave with a smile, but Bucky already was a little worried as Tony murmured something that caused Pepper to slap his arm and hiss, "Behave!"

"I'm gonna get some popcorn from Bruce, all right?"

Bucky nodded at Steve and followed Vivian over to the couch, The thing had enough room for three people but as soon as he sat next to the arm, Vivian sat next to him and put her legs up onto his lap. No one in the room seemed to know what to say except for Sam as he grinned over at them and asked, "You two ever seen Princess Bride before?"

Bucky shook his head, but Vivian nodded and admitted, "Watched it with Natalia and a few other people."

Natasha smirked, "So you probably don't remember that movie at all then."

Bucky arched an eyebrow at that and Vivian blushed before she said, "I remember the first fifteen minutes at least."

"Why wouldn't you remember much of the movie?" Sam asked, looking curious.

Vivian opened her mouth to answer, but then Natasha interrupted, "Because she kept kissing…what was her name again?"

"Megan."

"Right, Megan. They made out until we told them to get a room, and so they did. They disappeared into Vivian's room for the rest of the night."

Bucky smirked and gently squeezed Vivian's side. She squirmed and rolled her eyes while she pointed out, "So what? You missed plenty of movies every time you slipped into your room with Kim."

"Oh, I absolutely did."

"So did you two ever--" Tony asked, motioning between the two of them with a leer on his face.

" _No_ ," Vivian and Natasha said in unison.

Tony pouted and Pepper rolled her eyes, mouthing an apology for Tony. Sam shook his head and sad, "Well, that's the movie for today, and I'm gonna ask everyone who's coupled up to not make out during the damn movie. You wanna do that, go do that back on your own floors, not on the communal one."

"Sam's right," Steve said, bringing a bowl of popcorn and three bottles of water over. Bucky smiled over at him and accepted some of it, smiling as Steve pulled Vivian onto his lap with one arm. "The point of this is to spend time together as a group."

"Pepper, Steve's using his captain voice and I feel threatened," Tony announced loudly.

Pepper rolled her eyes and Bucky smiled at that, smiling more as Vivian handed the popcorn bowl to him before she lay down with her head in Steve's lap and her feet in his. For a moment Steve just stared at Vivian and then he started playing with her hair.

"Sorry about that," Bruce said, coming in and sitting on the floor. "I wanted to clean up a bit before we got started."

"Bruce, do you want to sit on the couch? We can move over and make room," Steve asked.

Bruce shook his head, "Wanted to sit on the floor anyway, but thanks. I might lean against the couch if that's okay with you, Vivian."

Vivian nodded. Bucky looked at everyone and realized that everyone just seemed _calm_. There were no side eyes at them aside from a few from Tony, but even those were far and few between. The man honestly just looked conflicted most of the time. The lights in the room went out and then the movie started. After that, it was just the movie and popcorn that he paid attention to. Halfway through the movie though, Viv turned around to put her head in his lap.

That was when it became hard to watch the movie at all because Vivian was _right there_ looking beautiful and peaceful. It'd been years since he'd seen her actually just _relax_. She wasn't tense, wasn't afraid, wasn't in pain. She was just peaceful. He wanted to interrupt everything and just pull her into his arms, kiss her until she was breathless and then make a vow to her and everyone in that room that he'd spend the rest of his life trying to keep this kind of contentment on her face.

Bucky could feel eyes on him, so he glanced over to see Steve staring at them with a lovestruck expression. As soon as their eyes met, Bucky grinned and Steve blushed. He scooted over though with little encouragement, carefully moving Vivian just enough so that he could get closer. Vivian rolled her eyes but smiled, shaking her head. It was then that she rolled onto her back to stare up at them. She reached up and ran her thumb along his bottom lip and he sighed. Coming to this get together _had_ been a bad decision, just not for the reason he'd worried it would be.

Bucky pressed a kiss to Vivian's hand and then laced their fingers together, smiling as Steve slid an arm around his waist and took Vivian's other hand in his. Bucky focused back on the movie only to realize they'd have to rewatch this movie on their own. He had no idea what was going on. What did Inigo mean about Westley having been _mostly dead_? What the hell was that pill? Why was Buttercup still going to marry that monster Humperdinck anyway?

Despite not being entirely certain how they'd gotten to that point, the rest of the movie was still fun to watch. Inigo's revenge was amazing to see. The last 'as you wish' made Bucky smile. The lights in the room then came back on and Sam asked, "All right, what'd you three think of it?"

"It was really good," Steve said.

Bucky nodded, "I liked it."

Vivian sat up and motioned between the two of them and sighed, "What they said."

"Surprised Robocop has an opinion on the movie at all with how often he was just _staring_ at Rosa Klebb over there for about half the movie," Tony scoffed. He yelped as Pepper slapped his arm and hissed his name.

"Tony," Bruce said, shaking his head.

"What? It's a _joke_ ," Tony scoffed. "Peshkova's not offended by it, right?"

"I honestly don't care."

"See? She said she doesn't care."

"Who's Rosa Klebb?" Steve asked, and Bucky was glad he had.

"Old James Bond villain," Vivian said, sitting up and sitting up between Steve and Bucky. She sounded almost bored. "Was in 'From Russia with Love' and she's a lesbian who gets shot at the end."

"Tony!" Steve and Bruce snapped.

Tony winced and admitted, "Okay, I had forgotten about how she's a lesbian who gets shot in that movie. It was mostly a joke about Russia. And the fact that you're both blonde."

"Rosa Klebb isn't blonde," Vivian pointed out.

"Isn't she?"

Vivian shook her head, "Nope. She's actually a redhead. Tatiana Romanova is the blonde."

"Are you _sure_ it's not--"

"Yes. Ask Jarvis if you don't believe me."

Tony opened his mouth to ask, but then Bruce sighed, "Tony, she's right. You know she's right."

"Fine, next time I'll call you Tatiana," Tony said with a shrug.

"Or you can call her by her _name_ , Tony," Steve said, sounding exhausted. "You can call Bucky by his name too. You did when you invited them so I know you're capable of it."

Tony rolled his eyes, "I don't call anyone by their name and I don't know what you're talking about."

"Robocop's fine," Bucky shrugged.

"See? He's fine with it. Now, Tatiana on the other hand, there's no reason for me to call her Vivian since that's not even her real name. What _is_ your real name anyway?"

"If you're talking about a birth name, I don't have one," Vivian said.

"C'mon, everyone has a birth name."

"I'm serious, I didn't have a name until I chose one for myself. Before then I was assigned a number or just referred to as a part of the experiment. There was no need to give a real name to a weapon. My name is Vivian because I gave myself that name."

"Oh," Tony said, looking uncomfortable.

Pepper rolled her eyes and then sighed, "So, you three liked the movie? What'd you like about it?"

Vivian nodded and Steve smiled, "Yeah, it was really neat. I liked the sword fight a lot."

"We figured it was too soon for an old man like you to see CGI," Tony joked.

Clint scoffed, "He's seen CGI before, Tony."

"Wait, who introduced you to CGI?" Tony gaped. "That was supposed to be _my job_."

"Clint did," Steve said with a shrug.

Tony looked deeply offended and then scoffed, "Fine. Ruin my fun. What about you two? Hydra show you any CGI?"

Bucky shook his head, "No, and the person I stayed with before this, for a few reasons, wasn't really interested in movies. He preferred podcasts and audiobooks."

"Who the fuck doesn't like movies?" Tony scoffed. "What? Are they Amish or something?"

"No, blind," Bucky said, holding back a smirk. Immediately Tony's face paled and he sank a little lower in his chair, looking much like he wished he could take back that comment.

"Right. That…that would be a good reason to prefer audio based media," Tony said and downed the rest of his drink.

"Steve's shown me a few movies with CGI, mostly the two Hobbit movies that are out so far," Vivian said. "The past week or so we've been mostly hanging out, talking, reading, and listening to podcasts."

"Well then we can still introduce you to some damn good movies," Sam announced, sending a look over at Tony. The billionaire in question seemed to be ignoring Sam, so Sam shook his head and chuckled. "I know Steve likes documentaries, but what about you two?"

Vivian shrugged, "I've seen a couple. They can be really good."

"Honestly never seen one before," Bucky said with a shrug. "They weren't really showing at the local theater when we were growing up."

"I'll send you a list," Sam said.

"And I'll send you the actually good list," Clint announced with a grin.

"Nat, shove him off the couch for me, would you?" Sam asked sweetly.

Clint scoffed, but then yelped as Natasha merely nudged him, causing him to fall off the couch into a heap. "Aw, floor, no," he sighed as he lay on the ground. He held up a hand and Bucky watched, somewhat amused as Steve walked over and picked Clint up before dumping him back onto the couch next to Natasha.

"Thanks, lover," Clint announced, smacking Steve on the ass as he walked away.

Bucky grinned as Steve rolled his eyes and came back over to the couch. He exchanged a bewildered glance with Vivian though as Stark sputtered, "Wait. _You two_ \--"

"You didn't know?" Sam asked, looking bewildered.

Tony shook his head, " _No_! How was I supposed to know this? Was there an _announcement_? _Am I the only one who didn't know_?"

Bruce shook his head, "I didn't, but it's also none of my business."

" _Of course_ it's our business. We just found out that _Hawkeye deflowered Captain America_ ," Tony announced, his voice a little shrill.

Bucky snorted and Vivian was shaking with laughter next to him. Motioning between himself and her, Bucky said, "No, _we_ did that back in the 1930's. Steve already had _plenty_ of experience by the time Clint got his hands on him."

Steve had his face buried in his hands and Bucky grinned as Tony sputtered, "You three-- _wait_ , separately or together?"

"Together," Vivian said.

"No, no. _No way_. You're telling me Star Spangled Boy Scout over there lost his virginity in a _bisexual threesome_? But he's _Captain America_."

"You do realize his birth certificate says 'Steven Grant Rogers' and not ' _Captain America, property of the United States Army_ ,' right?" Bucky sighed.

Bruce nodded, "He's right. Just because that's Steve's title doesn't mean that's who he's always been."

Pepper was watching the whole thing looking like she was torn between scolding Tony and also just letting him talk to get more details about this whole thing. Sam stood up and sighed, "And if y'all are going to be talking about Steve's sex life, I'm going to go back up to my floor and do something else. Because no offense, Steve, you're my friend, but I don't give a shit."

"Thanks, Sam," Steve chuckled.

Bruce stood up as well and admitted, "I am going to head out as well. I've got some more work to do in the lab and I _also_ don't want to be part of this conversation."

The two headed onto the elevator and Bucky arched an eyebrow while glancing back at Steve. Steve sighed and his shoulders slumped before he said, "All right, Tony. Ask your questions. I guess we _are_ going to talk about my sex life."

Tony's eyes lit up and he sat up, setting his drink aside as he asked, "All right. So you're bisexual and you've been with both men and women?"

"Yes."

"Who tops?"

"Whoever feels like it, so yes, Tony, I've topped _and_ bottomed during sex."

"So how many people have you had sex with?"

"Four."

Tony gaped and sat forward further into his chair. Pepper stood up and pressed a kiss to his cheek and waved to the room before leaving. Clint was eating popcorn like it was his job and it was impossible to tell how Natasha felt about any of it. Bucky rolled his eyes as Tony asked, "Wait, Bonnie and Clyde make two. Clint is the third. Who's the fourth? Wait, _is it Sam_? Is that why he left?"

"It wasn't Sam."

"Then who was it? You basically don't have a social life so who was it? Was it one of those guys on the Strike team you were part of?"

"No," Steve scoffed. "No, definitely not."

"Then why won't you tell me?"

"Because historically you've been terrible at keeping secrets," Steve sighed.

"That's not true!" Tony scoffed.

"Yes, it is," Natasha, Clint, and Vivian all said at the same time.

"Ow, didn't need it in stereo," Tony griped.

"It was a random guy he met in a gay club," Bucky said, staring directly at Tony. "Steve sucked his dick in the bathroom."

Tony gaped and Steve hissed, " _Bucky_!"

" _What_ \--there's-- _holy shit_ , there's no way," Tony gasped. "Did you really?"

"Yes," Steve sighed, sounding exhausted.

"Wait, why'd you tell me that?" Tony asked.

"Because if you tell anyone, no will believe you," Bucky said, sipping at his water.

"Oh, you're _evil_ ," Tony gaped. "Fuck, this means Captain America's secretly a sex pest. Public sex with a _stranger_?"

"It was one time and I never did it again."

"Still, the fact that you did it even _once_ is amazing." Tony then stood up, pointing at Clint with his drink as he demanded, "You've had sex with him. He have any other secrets?"

"Big dick, small refractory period, really eager, and more flexible than he looks," Clint listed. "If his sex drive's still the same then those three have fucked all over that apartment."

Tony shook his head and stood up, " _Jesus Christ_ , I need more alcohol for this." He then paused and leaned against his chair and sighed, "Now I won't be able to look at you without picturing some elaborate porno."

"You're the one who asked," Natasha pointed out, smirking and looking more than a little amused.

" _Wait_ ," Tony whispered, his eyes going wide. He ran over to Steve and then moved back to his chair and demanded, "My dad."

"What about him?" Steve asked slowly.

"Did you two ever…?"

Bucky snorted at that question and buried his face into Vivian's shoulder as Steve choked on water before he replied, "Howard and me? _No way_. He warned me to be careful about being with Bucky, but that was the closest we came to talking about sex, let alone… _just no_. Howard and I did not do anything."

"You _swear_?" Tony demanded.

" _Yes_! Why the hell would I lie about that? Only man I was with during the war was Bucky."

Tony nodded and mumbled something about needing better alcohol and then headed toward the elevator with a wave.

"For a man who bragged about how many supermodels he's fucked, he really does react to your sex life in a weird way," Vivian said, standing up and picking up the empty popcorn bowls.

Bucky smirked over at Clint, "Probably intimidated by the review Barton gave."

Clint raised his beer, "Just being honest about your boy."

Bucky rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Maybe next time let Viv and me do the bragging about him."

"Buck, you know he didn't mean anything by it," Steve sighed, his cheeks bright red.

Bucky shrugged and eyed Steve up and down before teasing, "It's fine. You can make it up to us."

Steve's eyes widened and Bucky grabbed Steve by the back of his head and kissed him hard on the lips. It was a dirty, underhanded tactic and Steve whimpered into the kiss. His lips remained slightly parted as Bucky gently tugged at his hair before teasing, "Meet you upstairs?"

Steve nodded, nearly breathless and Bucky chuckled. He then got into the elevator, Vivian following close behind. They could see Steve still in the room as the elevator doors closed. Turning toward Vivian, Bucky gently tilted her chin up, making her look at him. She smiled and whispered, "Didn't expect you to get so jealous of Clint."

Bucky rolled his eyes and chuckled, "I'm not jealous. Just prepared to…"

"Remind him whose dick he prefers?" Vivian teased.

Bucky grinned and lifted her up, carrying her into the bedroom while he chuckled, "What about you? You need reminding of something?"

"Oh, I have a terrible memory," Vivian teased. "I'm going to need a lot of reminding. Just about everything really."

"You're a menace," Bucky teased, tossing her onto the bed. She laughed, but then he sighed as she just _slowly_ started peeling her shirt off. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, just watched as the shirt landed off to the side.

"You two starting without me?" Steve murmured into his ear.

Bucky sighed and leaned against Steve's bare chest, watching Vivian slip off her pants while he chuckled, "Yeah, we were. Going to do something about it?"

Bucky laughed as he was spun around and shoved onto the bed, landing back and staring up at Vivian. He couldn't help but squirm just a bit though as Steve crawled up over him practically with fire in his eyes. There was no way any of them were going to get any sleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay on this one. Been having a hard time again. This year seems to be shit in general. I'm trying to keep myself on track despite the newest disaster in my life. I am going to try my best to have a chapter ready to post on Steve's birthday/my birthday next Saturday. Whether I also have a chapter to post on Sunday will be revealed on Saturday. I am trying but life is kind of wild for me right now. My car battery completely died. It's for a hybrid car so it's gonna be a pain in the ass to replace.
> 
> This chapter ended up slightly longer than I thought it would, which also made me need extra time on it. I hope you like it.


	2. Two: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: lots of sex. Seriously just so much sex. Most of this chapter is sex.
> 
> I decide what kind of relationships Asgardians have with zero evidence from the MCU to back me up on this. I just really want it to be this way, so I did it.
> 
> Oh and I did my best writing dialogue for Jane, Darcy, and Thor. My deepest apologies if I butchered it.
> 
> Posting this at 12:10 pm cst on July 4th. <3
> 
> Originally posted as chapter 43 on July 4th, 2020. Reposted on October 3rd, 2020.

Bucky sighed as he sat on the floor, exhausted. His shirt stuck to his skin and he smiled weakly as Vivian tossed him his water bottle. He caught it in his metal hand on accident, wincing at the sound of metal hitting metal before he forced himself to _slowly_ drink the cold water through the straw. Bucky had started joining Steve and Vivian for their morning workouts and that morning, _somehow_ , Steve had managed to turn an innocent run into an all out competition who could run the longest without needing a break.

"Jarvis, how'd we do?" Vivian grinned, panting and drinking from a water bottle herself. Steve was laying down with his eyes closed. He was breathing slowly. If Bucky didn't know better, he'd think Steve was asleep. Vivian was laying with her head resting on Steve's abs.

"Sergeant Barnes successfully maintained a speed of 33 miles per hour for the duration of the run, with a top speed of 36 miles per hour. Captain Rogers maintained roughly 35 miles per hour, but his first mile was just over a minute, putting him at 60 miles per hour in very short bursts. You, Miss Peshkova, maintained 30 miles per hour, so while you ran the slowest of the group, you lasted for a full half hour longer than the others. In your total time, all three of you managed to run over a hundred miles and if you so chose, your scores all beat the current world records. Vivian would be the first woman to beat the men's Olympic world record."

"Shit, good job," Bucky sighed, still feeling too tired to move. The shirt was starting to really bother him though and he wished he'd flung his off like Steve had over an hour ago, leaving himself in just shorts. Even Vivian had tossed hers aside, leaving herself in just shorts and a sports bra. Groaning and pushing himself up with his metal arm, Bucky shakily peeled off his sweat soaked shirt and tossed it aside, scrunching up his nose as it hit the ground with a wet _thump_.

"What the fuck did you three _do_?"

Glancing over at Sam as he came in, looking horrified, Bucky nodded when Steve sighed and announced, "We ran over a hundred miles."

" _Why_?" Sam yelped.

"Honestly, I don't remember," Vivian sighed. "Something about who was better than who, but that was three and a half hours ago, so who the fuck knows anymore?"

"You ran for _three and a half hours straight_?" Sam sounded exhausted. Bucky figured he was going to hear Sam sound like that a lot.

"No," Steve said. "Bucky and I ran for three hours. Vivian ran for three and a half."

" _Why the fuck did you keep running for half an hour after they stopped_?" Sam's voice was muffled and a quick glance told Bucky that yes, his face was fully in his hands.

"I don't know, seemed like a good idea at the time," Vivian sighed. "It wasn't. I have so many regrets. But I did break the world record for both genders, although for men that still gets beaten by Bucky which also got beaten by Steve."

"What exactly is the plan here?"

"Well, my plan _was_ to have a fun run and then give both of these men blowjobs so great that their brains come out through their dicks, but now none of our legs work, so that's probably a nonstarter."

"I didn't need to hear--"

"Although maybe I could just get enough momentum to roll over and suck Steve off right here and now, but I don't know if he has enough fluids left in his body to survive that," Vivian mused.

Steve and Bucky both snorted while Sam groaned, "Why do I talk to y'all at all?"

Bucky shrugged and then groaned as he pushed himself up and managed to get the few feet over to Steve's side before laying down and resting his head on Steve's chest. Bucky then took a long sip of his water, frowning when a noise indicated the bottle was now empty. He set it down and grinned as Sam sighed, "How the hell are you three even going to get back to your floor?"

"Sleep now, move later," Vivian mumbled, her face slightly muffled since she'd manage to turn and press her face slightly against Steve's abs. Bucky could feel Steve shiver and he grinned.

"You three are _disasters_ , you know that right?"

Bucky glanced up at Sam and shrugged while Steve sighed, "Yeah, Sam, I know."

"Holy shit! Is it _always_ like this here? Can we _live_ here? Like live here forever, I mean."

Bucky glanced up and frowned as he spotted three new people in the room. Thor and Jane he recognized from photos, but the excitable brunette who was leering at them all was someone he didn't know at all.

Sam chuckled and stood up, holding out his hand, "Sam Wilson."

The brunette's eyes lit up and she practically ran to shake Sam's hand as she said, "I'm Darcy. Jane's intern and only friend."

"Darcy," Jane hissed, blushing bright red.

Darcy ignored Jane as she continued, "Weren't you in DC? You were the hottie with wings, right?"

"Yeah, that was me," Sam said, the pride evident in his voice.

"Awesome, but seriously though, are people usually half naked around here? Because I will just live in this room if this is the view. Hey, Captain Shirtless, you need an intern?"

Steve was blushing bright red and Bucky snickered, "Nah, doll, he doesn't need an intern."

"Oh my _God,_ Jane, Bucky Barnes called me _Doll_. I'm going to legally change my name to that."

"Darcy, calm down before you have a stroke," Jane sighed.

" _I'd like to stroke him_ ," Darcy muttered and Bucky choked on his breath. He'd honestly forgotten just how absolutely blatant modern people had gotten with how they flirted.

Thor crouched down next to them and smiled, "Rogers, I did not take thee for a ne'er-do-well."

Bucky had to admit to himself that Thor's voice was really nice. Not as nice as Steve's, but still really good. He looked between the two men as Steve rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Should have seen me earlier. Would have almost been impressed."

"Almost? You still sell yourself short, my friend," Thor chuckled. "Do you and your companions require assistance?"

"Probably," Vivian sighed. "Nice to meet you, by the way, I'm Vivian. This is Bucky."

Bucky grinned as Vivian stuck out her hand only for Thor to take it and gently kiss her knuckles. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Any friend of the Captain is a friend of mine."

Bucky held out his hand as well and grinned as Thor squeezed his hand before shaking it. Pulling back, he could practically hear Sam roll his eyes as he said, "These idiots ran a hundred miles and their damn legs don't work anymore."

"It's not that they don't work anymore," Vivian scoffed. "It's just that we ran out of energy and also our legs just are very weak now. If pushed, I could probably do a handstand and then walk on my hands all the way to the elevator. Maybe."

"Probably don't do that," Steve laughed. He then nodded toward Thor, "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what brings you to the tower?"

"Jane's work made it necessary for her to return to New York, and thus I returned with her."

"Translation: Stark's got tech Jane's only dreamed about, so now Stark's our sugar daddy," Darcy announced gleefully.

"Darcy, for the thousandth time, he is _not_ our sugar daddy," Jane sighed, seeming like she actually had told that to Darcy multiple times.

"Yeah, yeah, what are you gonna call it when a hot billionaire pays for you to work and live in his massive tower?"

" _Employment_?" Vivian mused.

" _Thank you_!" Jane cried, motioning toward Vivian.

"Spoil sport," Darcy muttered and Bucky gave Darcy a wink. He was delighted when she brushed bright red and actually looked surprised.

Thor also looked deeply amused and gave Bucky a surprisingly knowing look before he asked, "You said the three of you desired assistance. What is it that you require?"

"Only if you wanna carry us into the elevator and then to our bed," Bucky joked.

Sam snorted and Bucky grinned widely only to become more than a little surprised when Thor scooped him up into his arms and just lifted him up. Bucky glanced at Steve and Vivian, who just were watching with smirks and he reassured Thor, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. It was kind of a joke. Besides, I'm feeling better already."

Thor paused halfway to the elevator and teased, "I have a great number of skills, but as of yet my touch has not successfully healed anyone."

Bucky opened his mouth to say something as he found himself staring at Thor's hands before he snapped his mouth shut. Between the teasing from his partners and the exhaustion from running over a hundred miles, he barely stopped himself from saying something inappropriate and frankly embarrassing. Unfortunately, Thor's smirk turned almost knowing as he walked onto the elevator and set Bucky down.

"Were I not already beholden to my beloved Jane, I would be inclined to ask if your gaze meant you were seeking more."

Bucky grinned, "Well, I don't know if you noticed, but I'm kind of _beholden_ to the two other idiots out there. Not sure if Asgardians are into group projects."

Thor threw his head back and laughed, the sound booming and sending a slight shiver down Bucky's spine. His eyes widened though when Thor's laughter trailed off and he shook his head, "Mortals are so peculiar. Companionship in my world is often a ' _group project_ ' as you have stated. I am ' _exclusive_ ' with my Jane as that is what brings her joy. She informed me that the term for my former arrangements were ' _polyamorous_ ' and most confusingly, _'open_ ' _."_

"Well, cheers to that," Bucky said, more than a little stunned by that revelation.

Thor bowed his head slightly and walked off, leaving Bucky with the realization that _timing_ was really the only thing stopping him from actually having sex with a God from Norse mythology. He smiled as he heard Thor's booming laughter approaching again. Vivian was wrapped around Thor's side, smirking at him. He wasn't quite sure what Vivian said, but wasn't entirely surprised when Thor set her down next to him and pointed a finger at her, "Are you absolutely certain that this temptress is not of Asgard?"

"Yeah, she's from here," Bucky chuckled.

"I'm a mutant though, so there are some that would say I'm closer to Asgardian than human," Vivian said with a shrug.

As soon as Thor shook his head and wandered off again, Vivian asked, "So, what do you think?"

"I accidentally eyed him up too much and I think he said if he was single, we would have fucked, but I'm not sure."

" _Really_?" Vivian gaped.

Bucky nodded, "Apparently the set up we have is pretty common on Asgard. He described his previous dating life as _polyamorous_ and _open_. What'd you say to him anyway?"

Vivian stared at the ceiling as she mused, "I just pointed out that group sex is fun and healthy, so if he wanted to join us with Jane, we'd be fully willing to do that. He laughed until we got here."

Bucky shook his head, "Of course you were that blunt."

"If it had worked, you would have thanked me."

"If what had worked?" Steve asked as he was set into the elevator. He was eying them both carefully, but his cheeks were tinged a pretty pink so Bucky knew he hadn't come away unbothered by the god of thunder.

"All I did was offer Thor some fun group activities while he stayed at the tower."

" _Viv_ ," Steve hissed, blushing right red. He did a subtle nod to where Thor stood in the elevator as the doors shut.

Thor merely chuckled, "There is no cause for alarm, dear friend. No offense has been taken upon this day. I am flattered that the three of you would even consider extending such an opportunity. It is a rare gift indeed to share a bed amidst soulmates."

The elevator went quiet and Bucky thought about it. He wasn't sure he believed in soulmates at all, but it would be nice to know that he wouldn't have to leave Viv or Steve ever again, that he'd get to keep them. Then again, maybe Asgardians meant it in the way humans meant it when they called someone that in real life. Not a supernatural version of it all, but just a statement of how good those people were together. Maybe that's all Thor meant. He was left in his thoughts though as the elevator stopped and Thor picked up Steve first, carrying him out of there.

"I can probably actually just be helped to the bedroom at this point, but I am not about to miss another opportunity to be carried by the god of thunder," Vivian confessed and Bucky snorted.

"You're incorrigible."

"And here I was thinking that was the reason you love me."

Bucky's expression softened and he reached over, cupping Vivian's face in his hand. He gently rubbed his thumb along her cheek as he whispered, "I love _everything_ about you, Viv."

Vivian blushed bright red and pressed a soft kiss to his palm. His hand slipped down, running along her arm before he squeezed her hand as she whispered, "I love you too, sap."

The quiet moment ended and Vivian smirked. Thor shook his head, lifting her up as he chuckled, "You are relentless indeed."

"You have _no idea_."

Thor laughed and Bucky was left for a moment on his own in the elevator. After a couple of minutes, he reached up and pulled himself up. His legs wobbled and he groaned. He was still exhausted. That stupid competition had taken more out of him than he'd thought and he sighed as a muscular arm wrapped around his waist.

"It would be unwise to carry on with this decision, Sergeant Barnes." Bucky turned around and leaned against the wall and inhaled deeply. Thor was watching him with concern and Bucky blushed as he continued, "Have my words or actions in any way caused you distress?"

Bucky shook his head, "No, it's not your fault. Just…annoyed with myself for getting this exhausted to begin with. That's all."

Thor chuckled and Bucky shivered as his hand gently cupped the back of his neck. Their foreheads pressed together and Bucky inhaled sharply as Thor whispered, "You seek to prove yourself in realms where not a soul requested it. 'Tis a wise warrior that seeks help when needed."

Bucky blushed and nodded letting himself get lifted again. His legs had been seconds away from giving out anyway. Plus, it was still _really_ nice to have those arms wrapped around him. He was going to have to see if Steve could carry him to bed when he didn't feel like moving.

The trip to the bedroom didn't last as long as Bucky was hoping for, but he couldn't help but smile widely as he saw Vivian laying halfway onto Steve fast asleep. Sighing as he was set next to Steve, Bucky squeezed Thor's arm and teased, "You make a really fuckin' good taxi."

Thor chuckled, "Jane has expressed a similar sentiment on many an occasion. She is waiting for me, so I fear I cannot stay. Is there any final assistance I may provide before I take my leave?"

"No," Steve sighed sleepily. "Go spend time with her. We'll talk later."

Thor bowed and left as Bucky slid over, resting his head on Steve's shoulder. Within moments he fell asleep, not caring that they were all sweaty and _definitely_ needed to shower and wash the comforter they were laying on now. All he cared about was resting. He wasn't entirely certain how long he'd been asleep, but he awoke to Steve shifting beneath him and trying ever so carefully to slip out from under both of them. Bucky opened his eyes and grinned at Steve's sheepish expression.

"Sorry," Steve whispered, sitting up and then scooting off the bed. Vivian was curled up, still fast asleep and as Steve walked around the bed, he smiled softly and leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to cheek and stroking her hair.

Bucky smiled and teased, "No kiss for me?"

Steve rolled his eyes, but came back around the bed and kissed Bucky's cheek while grumbling, "Morning, jerk."

Bucky slapped Steve's ass and grinned as he received a half-hearted glare for that. Within a few moments, Bucky realized he also needed to get up and headed to a different bathroom. His legs were sore, but he managed to relieve himself, wash his hands, and brush his teeth without collapsing or even wobbling so that was better than before. Frowning, Bucky leaned against the wall and asked, "Jarvis, how long were we asleep?"

"You have been asleep for eighteen hours. It is currently 6 am."

"Jesus," Bucky grumbled, rubbing at his face.

Taking off his workout shorts and underwear, Bucky tossed them into a clothing hamper and then headed back into the bedroom. The bed was empty, but he could hear the water running in the bathroom. Heading in, he smirked and leaned against the doorframe, watching as Vivian stood at the sink, nude, and brushed her teeth. Their gaze met in the mirror and she spit into the sink before she asked, "Where'd you run off to?"

"Other bathroom."

"This bathroom's huge, you could have come in here," Steve said, coming back into the bathroom carrying towels and bathrobes. Bucky couldn't help but stare at Steve and Viv as they smiled at each other. Looking at them, he wondered how he'd ever gotten anything done at any point in his life. Vivian had always had a body like that. And Steve had been beautiful before the serum, but then the serum had just made him breathtaking. Steve's ass alone should have been enough to cause him to be the world's worst soldier.

"You ogling or zoned out?" Vivian teased.

"Ogling," Bucky said, not an ounce of shame in his voice.

Steve chuckled, "Ogle me in the shower."

Saluting at Steve's captain voice, Bucky headed into the shower that had nearly made him lose his mind when he'd first seen it. The thing was massive, had benches alongside it and while there were specific handheld shower heads that came out of the wall so someone could have more control, the _entire ceiling_ was apparently a 'waterfall' shower head. Fiddling with the controls on the wall, Bucky chose a temperature and then turned on the water. Every time he did this, he had a moment of fear that the temperature he chose wouldn't be what came out of the water, but it hadn't happened yet.

Bucky wrapped his arms around Vivian as she walked in, pulling her back against him and pressing a kiss to her neck. Vivian sighed and tilted her head back but then laughed, "Shower first, sex later."

Bucky groaned but let her go, reaching for Steve only for Steve to take his hand, kiss it and gently push him back. Bucky sighed, but then began washing his hair. All the things they needed were in a little alcove in the shower. He hadn't really had much of his own stuff when he'd shown up at the tower, and what he did have was declared 'bad' and thrown out. Since then, he'd just used Steve's stuff.

Luckily he didn't seem to be the only one eager to get the shower over with since they all seemed to be showering just a little bit faster than normal. As soon as the water turned off, Bucky was on Steve, kissing him hard. He gripped his hips and pulled them closer, feeling Steve whimper into the kiss. Bucky smirked, pulling back from the kiss to ask, "Shower, bed, where do you wanna take this?"

"Comforter needs to be washed anyway, might as well go there," Vivian teased slapping him on the ass.

"Towels--" Steve said, but Bucky cut him off, his tongue slipping into his mouth as he backed the mildly miffed man through the bathroom and out into the bedroom. Bucky grinned into the kiss as Steve gave a quiet gasp as he fell back onto it. He leaned over Steve and chuckled, beginning a _slow_ descent down his body when something hit his hand.

Bucky saw a bottle of lube and a box of condoms and glanced at Vivian as she climbed onto the bed and kissed Steve. Chuckling, he nudged Steve's legs apart. Bucky's original plan of a slow worship down his body was immediately forgotten as his hard cock twitched, precum dripping down it as Steve moaned into his kiss with Vivian.

Steve always did have the prettiest cock. It was the prettiest shade of pink, the vein standing out even more, and god it was huge. The foreskin was soft and a duskier color. It looked like an artist's loving rendition instead of a real one and Bucky sighed as he leisurely played with Steve's foreskin. He grinned as the moans got louder and then gently pulled it back, flicking his tongue against the slit. It even tasted good.

Bucky had to press a hand against Steve's hips to keep him from lurching up. He always was so eager about all of it. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply through his nose and swirled his tongue along the head, suckling lightly on it before he slowly began taking more and more into his mouth. Steve's cries got louder, and it became harder to hold his hips down. A quick glance told him why as Vivian had gone from kissing Steve to playing with his nipples, pinching and sucking on them. His back was arched and his hands were clenched tightly on the comforter.

Bucky took his hand off Steve's hips, reaching down and beginning to stroke his own leaking cock as Steve's hands snapped down. They laced through his long hair and Bucky moaned as Steve began gently fucking his mouth. He could hear Vivian moaning and he glanced up at her as he saw her fingering herself as she watched. Bucky's eyes closed and he moaned as he came, his cum splashing against his own chest seconds before he swallowed down Steve's. The _sounds_ that Steve made as he came were amazing.

" _Fuck_ ," Steve gasped, his voice raspy. It was the first real word he'd managed and Bucky dragged his tongue from base to tip before grinning at Vivian. Steve shuddered, but motioned Bucky up as he said, "C'mere." Bucky shook his head and Steve looked confused, but then quickly sighed as Vivian slipped slick fingers between his lips.

Steve sucked on them eagerly, and Bucky walked over to Vivian's side, kissing her lips softly only to grin when she used her free hand to scoop up some of the cum off his chest and lick it off her fingers. Shaking his head, he reached over to the drawer and pulled out a toy. He'd been more than a little surprised that Steve had a collection like that until the man had blushed bright red and confessed that they'd been gifted to him by Clint during their time together.

Standing back between Steve's legs, Bucky watched as Vivian gripped Steve by his chin and kissed him in a way that was almost filthy. Chuckling at that, Bucky gently squeezed Steve's thighs and then smiled as the kiss ended and Viv teased, "Someone's anxious to get started."

"As if you're any better," Bucky teased. He then gently dragged his fingernails down Steve's thighs as he said, "Besides, I think Steve here's got us both beat."

Steve whimpered, his cock already hard again as he begged, " _Please_ , I need _more_."

Vivian gave Bucky one last kiss and Bucky watched as she straddled his face and then lay forward. Reaching forward, Bucky ran his fingers through her hair as she took the tip of Steve's cock into her mouth. Gently tugging at her hair, he gently urged her to take more, watching for a moment and just lost in how _amazing_ she looked. Took him a few minutes to even remember what he'd wanted to do.

Kneeling by the end of the bed, Bucky then spread Steve's cheeks and gently dragged his tongue along Steve's opening. The moan was immediate and loud in response and Bucky was desperate to get that sound again, so he repeated it. Over and over until Steve's legs were trembling. The first lube slick finger Bucky slid into Steve caused the man to stop what he was doing and just _moan_ Bucky's name. Vivian stopped sucking Steve and just watched, hunger in her eyes.

"Lazy bums, makin' me do all the work," Bucky teased, slipping a second finger into Steve and feeling absolutely delighted as Steve moaned.

"Oh, don't worry, Buck, we'll return the favor soon enough," Vivian murmured, licking the dripping precum off of Steve's cock.

Bucky shivered and added a third finger once Steve was ready and Vivian watching, completely enamored. After a few moments, he pulled his finger out and then slipped a vibrator onto his middle finger. Vivian's wide grin at the sight could have lit up the whole damn room. He lubed up the vibrator before turning it on and calling up, "Ready for this, sweetheart?"

" _Yes_."

Slipping his fingers back into Steve, Bucky knew when he'd found Steve's prostate just from how _loud_ he was. He hoped Stark had soundproofed the floor they were on, otherwise a hell of a lot of people were gonna hear just what Steve sounded like as he was fucked. He was surprised though when the sound got muffled and Vivian groaned before focusing her attention back on Steve's cock.

Watching and listening to his lovers together was almost enough to make Bucky lose it again. His metal hand around his cock was always odd but he groaned, leaning forward slightly as he stroked himself, losing track of the rhythm until he came with a start. His cum splashed along Steve's thighs and he pressed his finger tight against Steve's prostate, chuckling as both Vivian and Steve moaned. Pulling his fingers out, Bucky tossed the vibrator back onto the bed and watched as Vivian swallowed before coming up gasping for air.

"You two done already?" Bucky teased.

"Jesus Christ, you're not ready for a break yet?" Vivian asked, moving so she was straddling Steve's abs.

"I just…need a breather," Steve gasped. "But I can…I can do this all day."

Bucky gave Steve a quick slap on the ass and chuckled, "Good, because that's the plan."

" _Buck_ ," Steve whined.

"C'mon baby, we both know you can take more than that," Vivian teased. She turned around and leaned up. Bucky moved slightly to watch as they kissed. The kiss wasn't rushed and Steve's hands wandered her body, settling on her ass. As Steve's fingers trailed down to slip into Vivian's pussy, Bucky grabbed two condoms and began rolling one onto Steve's cock.

" _Fuck_ ," Steve whined, breaking the kiss and his fingers stilling just for a moment in Vivian.

"Forgot how fucking sensitive the serum made you," Bucky teased, rolling his own condom on before applying a generous amount of lube. He then gently pressed against Steve, more than a little delighted at the soft gasp and the way Steve's fingers slipped from Vivian completely. They were soaked and he gripped at her thigh tightly. Bucky chuckled and pressed a soft kiss to Vivian's neck before he began to push into Steve.

" _Bucky, please, I--_ " Steve begged as Bucky slid all the way in. Whatever he was going to beg for got drowned out in a hoarse cry as Vivian lowered herself onto him, her head thrown back as she choked on her gasp. Steve's legs wrapped around Bucky's waist and he pressed another kiss to Vivian's shoulder before he began to thrust.

Bucky wasn't sure how every single time felt just _this good_ but it _always_ felt this good. Always like something out of a goddamn dream and he gripped Steve's hips tightly as he sped up his movements. If the bed made any noises as it shifted, he couldn't hear it over the sound of the moans. Vivian tilted her head back and he grinned as she rested her head on his shoulder. He kept one hand on Steve's hips and reached around, rubbing against her clit and moaning against her neck.

Vivian orgasmed not long after that, her cries loud in his ear and then it was like a chain reaction. Steve's back arched and his hands tore through the comforter and Bucky followed close behind. Everything seemed to white out and then he sighed, pulling out and weakly crawling onto the bed, gasping for air. Vivian just lay forward, pressing her face against Steve's neck with him still inside her.

"So quick breather and then next time Bucky's on the bed, right?" Viv teased.

Bucky laughed, his legs even more sore than before and grinned wildly as Steve sighed and muttered, "Jesus Christ, Tony is going to lose his mind if you two fuck me to death."

"Mmm, but what a way to go," Bucky sighed, pressing a kiss to Steve's lips.

Steve rolled his eyes, but then after fifteen minutes of them just laying there, curled up together, Steve sighed, "Okay maybe we can go a few more rounds."

Bucky laughed so hard he nearly pulled something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is the 4th of July and that's Steve's birthday and my birthday and nothing else. No other holidays. This chapter doesn't take place on July 4th as that timing didn't work out. However, he did get fucked so yay?
> 
> Hopefully this was good. Oh and I got the running speeds from wikipedia and then fucked with them a bit. I don't think this is something they could do all the time. I think trying to do this daily would be a disaster, I just think in competition mode and while well rested, they could do this like they did. Obviously Vivian's numbers I made up out of whole cloth.
> 
> Also apologies but I do not have a chapter ready for tomorrow, so it'll be next week at the soonest that y'all get another one.


	3. Three: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: angst and flippant mentions of execution methods and their effects
> 
> If you want to skip the descriptions, it is a contained section.
> 
> "That's all you have to say about that?" Tony said, his voice raising. He sounded a little hysterical.
> 
> Two paragraphs of dialogue about executions.
> 
> "I wanted to…mind you I'll deny it if anyone asks me this because there's no way I'm admitting to anyone that I--"
> 
> Originally posted as chapter 44 on July 12th, 2020. Reposted on October 3rd, 2020.

"Wow, amazing, you actually are doing yoga like a normal human being."

Vivian paused and glanced over at Tony in confusion before sitting cross-legged on the floor. It wasn't like she couldn't hold the pose she'd been in, but if she was going to talk to Tony, then she might as well be comfortable. Especially since he looked nervous and his eyes were rimmed red in a way that was more than a little concerning. For a moment they just stared at each other, but then he moved forward and pointed, clearing his throat, "The stretches are normal, I mean. I figured you might practice serial killer moves or reenact scenes from classic horror movies."

"Most classic horror movie villains just walk everywhere, so there wouldn't really be much in terms of stretching," Vivian said, more than a little curious as to why Tony had shown up.

Tony gave a bitter sounding laugh and sighed, "Yeah, that's true."

Vivian stood up and took a drink from her water bottle before she asked, "You look like you…are kind of close to breaking down. Should I call Pepper or Rhodes or Happy or someone?"

Tony just ignored her, starting to gesture wildly with his hands before he shoved them deep into his pockets. He kept opening and closing his mouth, shaking his head and looking like whatever he was going to say was the wrong thing. Finally he sighed and said, "Pepper got in touch with that lawyer the terminator mentioned. Guy said he'll work with us, but not for us. Respect that. His building's a shithole so that had to be fixed up, but that won't take too long."

"That's a nice thing you did," Vivian said, watching as Tony began to pace.

"Can you, uh, stop looking at me for a second?" Tony pleaded.

Vivian shrugged and turned around, facing the wall. She could hear Tony pacing before finally he stopped and said, "I keep thinking that when you turn around that I'll just see part of your skull missing or that I'll find your body somewhere in this place. Pierce really did shoot you."

"Yeah, he did."

"You lied to him. You said you didn't know how I got the drugs. You made it seem like it was impossible to kill me without getting caught."

"What's your point?"

"Your life would have been easier if you'd just killed me, so why didn't you?"

"I answered this before, Tony."

"Then answer it again."

Vivian sighed and asked, "Can I look at you while I tell you this?"

"Fine," Tony snapped.

Turning around, Vivian looked up at him and admitted, "Like I've told you before, I was on surveillance duty on your house for weeks before that club incident. I got to see a lot of your life. I got to see how Howard left raising you to Jarvis and on the rare occasion she wasn't busy, your mother. I got to hear the screaming matches when he pushed you to your breaking point. I got to hear the quiet arguments where you ripped each other apart. I became increasingly convinced that you needed a mentor and some therapy."

Taking a deep breath, she then shrugged, "Your dad was working on the serum though and something had to be done about him. I gave my report and said I could infiltrate the lab, get a sample, and then we could go from there. I figured we'd destroy that project and maybe, at most, kill Howard.

"Him living wasn't an option since he'd be able to just recreate his work, but I figured no one else had to die. Stupid of me, really. By the time I gave my recommendation, Obadiah had already decided he wanted more. He didn't want to work for your father anymore, but he knew he'd be blacklisted if he left. He'd helped blacklist their old partner and knew it could easily be turned on him. Hell, I think even once Howard just flat out told him that he'd be head of the company 'over his dead body'. Unfortunately, your mother was also a capable business woman and he didn't want to compete for head of company with her, because he knew he'd lose."

"And me?"

"He knew you were a genius, and so he feared your future, feared _you_. It took some convincing after you survived that you could be manipulated and controlled. And it helped that it wasn't like he could go to the cops and complain that we'd botched the multiple felonies he asked for. And Better Business Bureau doesn't cover assassination attempts. I quietly put my hope into the fact that there was no way he'd be able to outsmart you forever."

"You bet on me."

Vivian shrugged, "Looks like the bet paid off. Not quite the timeline I thought it would be. _Definitely_ didn't predict Obadiah trying to get rid of you again by having you kidnapped and tortured by terrorists…sorry about that."

"Were you involved in…?"

Vivian shook her head and scrunched up her nose, "God, no. I speak languages from that region, but they tended to keep me out of there for various reasons. Besides, while Hydra was absolutely in the know, they weren't actually the people Obadiah contracted for this little excursion. Not that it matters, but after you 'mysteriously' went to jail after our last encounter, I just wasn't allowed to be near you anyway. There was a whole list of people I wasn't allowed to go near."

"Who else was on the list?"

"X-Men, Brotherhood of mutants, basically anyone I could potentially go to for help was completely off-limits for me. I risked getting in trouble if I was on the same _block_ as them. Which that little rule ended up being a gigantic pain in the fucking ass. _Do you know how many goddamn people in the state of New York I couldn't go near_? New York missions were an absolute nightmare. I had to take the longest routes _everywhere_."

"Did you really help Romanoff escape?"

Vivian shook her head, "No. That I didn't do. All I did was one day when we were undercover, I told her that if she had the opportunity to get out of that life that she should. I made her swear that she would get out and that she'd leave me behind. If I'd known she was going to switch agencies instead of just get out, I would have at least given her a hint about how SHIELD was also garbage. Clint extended an offer to her and she took it, so the only people who got Natasha out are her and Clint. It's for the best that she was there though. She helped save the world."

"Still, they executed you for it."

"Yeah, they did do that. A lot." She frowned, "God, that sucked."

"That's all you have to say about that?" Tony said, his voice raising. He sounded a little hysterical.

"What do you want me to say, Tony?" Vivian sighed. "Do you want me to break down and cry about how awful it was for my scalp to catch fire when they electrocuted me? Do you wanna know about how if they fuck up that step of knocking you out when they kill you via lethal injection that it feels like fire flowing through your veins as you're buried alive?

"Do you want to know what it's like to die of an opioid overdose? How it feels like you're just drowning on dry land, gulping for breaths that never come? Do you want the gory details of what it's like to die in a gas chamber? Do you wanna know how long it takes me to suffocate to death when my neck doesn't snap from a noose?" Tony looked ill and Vivian rubbed her hands over her face, suddenly feeling very tired. She then shook her head, "Tony, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to…mind you I'll deny it if anyone asks me this because there's no way I'm admitting to anyone that I--"

"Tony, spit it out."

"I'm sorry."

Vivian's eyes widened and she took a step back. Of all the things, she hadn't expected that.

"Initially I thought your apology was bullshit. I thought _you_ were just full of shit. But then I thought about it, you know? I thought about what I would do if I was captured alongside Pepper. I thought about what I would endure and what I would do to other people if it meant keeping her alive. And I realized I would have done all of it, and I don't think I would feel guilty, because she'd be alive. You exploited every weakness you could, but…I don't know if I would have been able to find a way around the bomb in Barnes' arm the way that you did."

"Pretty sure you would have done it way faster," Vivian said with a soft smile. Tony laughed and it was a wet sound. Tears were in his eyes and she smiled as he nodded.

"Your star-spangled boyfriend is going to be so goddamn smug. It's going to be insufferable."

"When has he ever actually been insufferable or goddamn smug beyond just a single look?" Vivian laughed.

"The look lasts forever."

"I don't know why you're complaining, the look that's worse is the one where he stares at you like he's so goddamn proud of you that he might just burst into tears."

Tony snorted, "Pretty sure Captain Lovestruck saves that for you and Barnes."

Vivian smiled, but then asked, "Tony, not that I'm not grateful we've had this heart to heart, but what brought this on anyway?"

Stark paced. He fiddled with something in his pocket and even just for a while muttered something under his breath. It sounded like equations, so she just left him to it. After several minutes, he paused and admitted, "Your comment about how you didn't have a name until you gave yourself one."

"That was over a week ago."

"Yeah, I know. At first I just…once again assumed you were full of shit and you'd done it to one up me or something during movie night." Vivian rolled her eyes at that and Tony sighed, "Yeah, Pepper yelled at me later. I insisted there's no way someone just…had a kid and then _didn't name them for five years_. And then Pepper pointed out that I have it in my power to actually double check your story if I insist on it."

"Ah, Pepper. The common sense half of your relationship."

"Funny," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "I worked on other things first. Your childhood wasn't my top priority, but then I had some time to kill while some of my projects were--never mind, you wouldn't understand that anyway. All you need to know is that I had a few hours where all my projects were unavailable to me. I almost started a new one, but then realized it was the perfect time to catch you out on a wild lie. Except I asked Jarvis and he couldn't find anything. I still wasn't ready to believe it, so I had him read the data about the first ten years of your life to me."

"That must have been…something."

"Yeah, and it took a couple days. I worked during the beginning, but then suddenly I just stopped and listened. And then I listened to more. And more. And I looked at pictures. Started asking about particulars. I asked if you'd ever been waterboarded, if you'd ever--"

"You wanted to know if everything that had happened to you had been done to me. And more. I get it."

"Yeah."

"Steve read all of it. Cover to cover. Wanted to watch all of it as a way to punish himself until Sam and Clint stopped him."

"I remember. I hadn't realized he could look that angry."

Vivian laughed and then shook her head, "Steve's not the calm goody-goody that you think he is, Stark. He has passion. He has _rage_." Stark gave her an incredulous look and she moved a step closer to him. "He was sick a lot growing up and it almost made him entirely bitter. The people in his life that stuck around helped calm those storms, but there was _so much suffering in the world._

"And he could see it, had all the time to just sit and dwell on it. He couldn't work much due to his health and he was in a relationship with people he couldn't be open about it with without getting beaten up, arrested, or killed. His one blood relative, his mom, died of sickness while he still lived, and he hated himself for living when she didn't."

Tony winced, but Vivian continued, "And then Buck and I went to war. He found a way to follow, but his brand new mentor gets killed in front of him. Then I die. And then Bucky dies. But he can't stop. He keeps going and he finally thinks he can let go, just crash that plane into the water only to then wake up in the future _all alone_. Everyone he ever knew or loved is dead or close to it."

Tony looked like he'd be sick, but Vivian pushed on still, "No one understood him and everyone had such grand fucking ideas about him because _God_ , that propaganda machine kept rolling, didn't it? Suddenly he's not Steve Rogers anymore. He's _Captain America_ with _70 years_ worth of _propaganda_ and _baggage_ attached to him that he _never_ asked for nor consented to. And he doesn't know where he fits into this world and he knows he's being used and you're there just prodding and _prodding_ and then he finds out that the group he died fighting isn't gone. Hydra's still around and it _took_ the people he loves. It still has them. _It's had them this whole time_. Can you imagine going through an _ounce_ of that?"

Tony rubbed his hands on his face and started to leave, but paused as Vivian said, "Steve wants to be your friend, Tony. He really does, God help him, _and he does trust you_. If he didn't, you wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near us. And you know what? I will _also_ deny this If you tell anyone, but you're not actually terrible. And you're kind of funny. _Sometimes_."

Tony snorted and turned around, leaning against the wall, "Not exactly a compliment, but I'll take it."

Vivian nodded, "Just, be nice to Steve and Bucky, please? Also, in the spirit of making--" Vivian paused and gestured between them. She sighed, "In the spirit of making this _friendship_ work…there's a Howling Commandos reunion thing happening the week of Steve's birthday. It's in DC. We're going to visit Peggy and Steve's going to be there for the reopening of the Smithsonian and there are apparently just days of reunion stuff to do with the descendants of the Howling Commandos."

Tony rolled his eyes, "I know about the reunions."

"Do you want to go with us?" She rolled her eyes right back at him as he looked taken aback. "Howard was a dick but he was part of that whole crew of Howling Commandos, so that makes you eligible. And plus, I don't know, maybe it'll give you and Steve a chance to talk to each other. You can find out what your dad was like before he was a raging abusive alcoholic, if that's something you want to do, or you can find out about Steve Rogers, the ridiculous, reckless idiot who jumped onto a tank, threw a grenade into the top of it, and then jumped off just as it was exploding."

Tony paused, looking deep in thought. His lip twitched as if he wanted to smile, but then he shook his head and muttered, "I'll think about it."

Sighing and staring at the ceiling after Tony made a hasty exit out of the room, Vivian asked, "Hey, Jarvis? Do you think I did the right thing?"

"Past data indicates that while Tony needs time to think through such an offer, it will ultimately be a beneficial opportunity that he will agree to."

"Thanks, Jarvis." Laughing to herself, Vivian sighed, "God, who'd have thought that I'd be the one to offer up an olive branch with this shit?"

"Apparently Ms. Romanoff did as she has received 20 dollars upon hearing the news."

"Wait, what? Who paid her 20 bucks?"

"Barton."

Vivian sighed and muttered, "Busy bodies."

"Ms. Romanoff has told me to pass along the message, 'You're a sap, so it was an easy bet'."

Vivian scrunched up her face and grabbed her things, heading into the elevator to go back up to her floor. She needed to shower, but she figured she'd do that there. She arrived at her floor to find Steve, Bucky, and Sam watching a show. Steve did pause the TV as she stepped out and smiled, "Hey, babe, want to come watch this with us? We can restart it after you've showered since Sam is demanding snacks anyway."

"Damn right I am. You can't watch stuff at home without snacks, man. What's the point of that?"

"Am I sap?" Vivian asked.

All three men glanced over at her and immediately all three nodded. She rolled her eyes as Steve got up and ran over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing a kiss to her lips before he teased, "It's one of the many reasons Buck and I love you."

"I'm an assassin."

"Not by choice and you also spent a good chunk of your time figuring out how to save people while on the job. You disobeyed orders basically every time it even remotely put kids in harm's way, so you always edited the plan to protect them," Bucky pointed out from the couch. "Also your whole deal was that you were only doing it to save my life, which isn't really a 'cold-blooded killer' thing."

"What brought this on anyway?" Sam asked, barely hiding his grin.

"Tony apologized to me, and then I…kind of offered for him to come to the Howling Commando reunion with us."

Sam groaned and everyone stared at him, but then Vivian sighed as Sam admitted, "I owe Natasha 20 bucks."

"What exactly was this bet anyway? And how many people were in on it?"

"A few," Sam said cautiously. "You'd already won the 'who's gonna apologize first' contest weeks ago apparently, but there was a bet on who would, you know, extend the offer of friendship first. Everyone bet it was going to be you, but just couldn't agree on the timing. Natasha said weeks before the 4th of July, so obviously she won. Clint said during the 4th of July because he forgot about y'all's trip. I said just after you got back from that trip. Rhodey guessed Thanksgiving. Maria said Christmas." He then paused and laughed, "Oh, right. One person did bet on Tony. Happy did. He bet Tony would do it as a New Year's resolution."

"Why the hell are so many of the guesses holiday based?" Vivian asked incredulously.

Sam shrugged, "Probably they thought the spirit of the holidays would move you? I don't know. Mine was specifically betting that interacting with people connected to Howard."

"I stalked Howard, but never actually met him," Vivian admitted. "Definitely never got to see him in action during the war."

"Tony's actually a lot like him," Steve said cautiously, looking almost like he was worried Tony would show up if he said that.

"Really?" Sam asked, sitting forward.

"Oh yeah," Bucky sighed. "Major playboy. Most definitely would have made a pass at Viv."

"Well, that part I did know on account of the fact that after the war, an agent was able to access a lot of his tech by sleeping with him."

"Hydra?" Steve asked curiously.

Vivian shook her head, "Not at the time, no. She worked for a kind of sister organization. Leviathan, but then the last living employees absorbed into Hydra after Peggy defeated the original organization."

Steve was practically beaming and Vivian laughed, "All right, well, I'm going to take a quick shower, and Sam might as well take that time to give Natasha her money."

Sam grumbled but headed into the elevator and Vivian started heading down the hallway only to then turn around and point at Steve, "Hey, when you make popcorn, can you put some in a separate thing and add cheese powder? And the spice? _Please_?"

Steve chuckled, "I'm making a few batches, so you'll be back by then, Viv."

"Just think about it!" Vivian called over her shoulder, heading into the bathroom. He was right though. She was finished with her shower before the popcorn even finished popping. Vivian came back and she immediately ran over as she saw that Steve was on his final batch.

"First batch has butter and cheese and that spicy powder you like," Steve chuckled.

Vivian leaned up and pressed a kiss to her lips while teasing, "Thank you. I love you."

"Yeah, yeah, take Buck's popcorn to him while you're headed that way, all right?"

Vivian nodded and grabbed the two large bowls and handed Bucky's to his before curling up next to him. He wrapped an arm around her and grinned as Sam walked in and headed into the kitchen to bring out the last two bowls of popcorn (both just salt and butter) while Steve followed behind with drinks. After everything got passed out, Vivian smiled as Steve sat next to her and Sam announced, "Anyone talks during this show, I'm gonna fly you off the top of this building and drop you. Got it?"

They gave a thumbs up and Sam nodded before hitting play. Vivian wasn't sure why Sam was so excited for them to watch the show until the main character was revealed to have a completely metal arm. Sam smirked and Vivian shook her head and decided to keep watching to decide if Sam should get his ass kicked.

Sam was just lucky that Fullmetal Alchemist was amazing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be the beginning of the 3 part DC week, but then Tony barged into my writing and had Things to Say™️ so that was a whole thing.
> 
> My goal for this chapter was to write Tony better than the MCU did. The difficulty of that goal is entirely dependent on whether or not you think they did well writing Tony in the movies. Spoiler alert: I don't.
> 
> Oh and Fullmetal Alchemist is a dope show. So is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Although technically you only need to watch one of the shows. On the off chance that there's someone reading who hasn't watched either show and doesn't know the difference or which one to watch?
> 
> Fullmetal Alchemist came out before the manga was finished so the first half is extremely detailed and extremely accurate to the source material and then the second half is shit they made up 'cause they ran out of stuff. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood came out after the manga was finished. FMA:B didn't do as much details about the first half under the assumption that the audience had seen FMA, but the entirety of the show is accurate to canon. I watched both and I enjoyed both. Some people say skip FMA entirely. Some people say watch FMA up until a point and then switch to FMA:B.


	4. Four: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: none that I can think of? Please let me know if I missed anything.
> 
> Originally posted as chapter 45 on July 26th, 2020. Reposted on October 3rd, 2020.

Bucky realized that he wasn't quite yet used to the fast paced, whirlwind speed that Tony Stark lived his life when he'd made it his mission to get all of them to DC as quickly as possible at the end of June. Pepper had actually signed off on Tony using the company jet, although being told that had led to a deeply offended Tony. Tony had argued that he shouldn't need approval to use _his_ stuff. Bucky wasn't sure what Pepper had whispered to him after that loud complaint, but Tony had backed down immediately. For a moment Bucky had almost asked her how she'd done that, but then reminded himself how he'd usually get Steve to back down from something and decided it was a skill best left to Pepper.

"You doing okay?" Steve whispered in his ear.

Bucky shifted his bag onto his arm and nodded, chewing on his bottom lip as he glanced around. The heat wouldn't have been too bad if Bucky had been willing to go out with his left arm uncovered, but he wasn't ready for that just yet. It made him feel like everyone's eyes were on him, even if they weren't. Just a touch of paranoia. Being in shorts and his hair being pulled back into a ponytail was helping with the heat. Although now he was realizing that his wearing a jacket with this outfit actually was just making people eye him in confusion. It was still better than people realizing they needed to call the cops on him, but it was, nonetheless, attention he didn't want.

No one else in the group was wearing anything long sleeved. Steve was in a t-shirt that was practically painted onto his skin. Bucky gazed at it and longed to just rip it off of him. He figured no one would actually complain if Steve Rogers ended up in just shorts on. Or less. Vivian was wearing shorts that seemed almost indecent. He did very much appreciate them, but he had been a little worried about her as they'd left the house.

Vivian had sworn to him as she'd put them on that all shorts were that short nowadays. She had then grinned and admitted that she did just like low cut t-shirts and not all of them had that. Pepper was in a slightly loose blouse and shorts that were absolutely as short as Vivian's were. So either Vivian had been telling the truth about that or they were messing with him. Tony just looked like a rich guy potentially going to the beach.

"Tony, what's going on?" Steve asked carefully.

Tony glanced back at them. Bucky couldn't see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but was certain Tony rolled his eyes as he said, "We're waiting for our ride. Happy got stuck in traffic, but he'll be here in fifteen minutes."

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose before he sighed, "Tony, did you have your driver drive _four hours_ just to make sure you had your car here?"

"Uh, first of all, he volunteered. He loves driving and it's convenient for me," Tony said, turning back at his phone.

"He has a fear of flying," Pepper explained. "He can fly if necessary, but if there's an option to get somewhere without flying, he usually takes it."

"Wait, since when?" Tony asked, frowning.

Pepper rolled her eyes, "Since always, Tony."

"Huh, weird. Anyway, he'll be here in a few and he'll be driving us around while we're here."

Pepper smiled, "Tentative plan currently is to drop our things off at the apartment and then if everyone's hungry, we can stop for a quick bite to eat or we can just head straight to the assisted living facility. We do want to go earlier rather than later."

"Did you guys run this by Angie?" Steve asked cautiously.

Pepper nodded, "Yes. Absolutely. And we will be calling her once we reach the hotel and telling her our plans either way. She's at the assisted living facility with Peggy most days, but she wants to make sure to prepare her for our visit."

Bucky glanced over at Vivian as he realized he hadn't heard from her in a while and frowned when he saw that she looked so lost in thought. Before he could ask her how she was doing, a sleek SUV pulled up. It was, unsurprisingly, Iron Man Red and had gold accents. Happy got out of the car, immediately explaining, "Sorry, boss. Traffic got a little crazy."

"How's the charge on it?" Tony asked.

"Great. Worked just like you said it would," Happy said, practically beaming.

Bucky put his luggage into the back before cautiously getting into the middle row. Vivian sat next to him and then Steve sat closest to the door as he said, "Thank you so much for doing this for us, Happy. We really appreciate it."

"No problem, Captain," Happy said, his voice slightly cracking as he then rushed back to the driver's seat.

Bucky smiled as Tony leaned forward from the back seat and sighed, "Try not to break my driver, Rogers."

Pepper chuckled softly and Bucky glanced back at her. Pepper smiled at him, so he smiled back. He then gently nudged Vivian and whispered into her ear, "You doing okay, doll?"

"A little nervous, but I'm okay," Vivian whispered back.

Despite her saying it very quietly, Steve had still heard her and leaned close to whisper, "What's got you nervous?"

"Probably just overthinking things."

Bucky laced his fingers with hers, gently squeezing her hand. Vivian leaned her head against his shoulder and he smiled as Steve whispered, "Neither of you have anything to be nervous about. Everyone's going to love you."

Vivian nodded, but didn't say anything, looking like she was lost in thoughts again. Her eyes closed as Steve gently rubbed her back. Bucky smiled over at Steve, and the three of them just sat quietly for the rest of the trip. Happy was softly humming some song to himself as he drove. Pepper and Tony were whispering _something_ to each other, but Bucky purposely was ignoring them. He didn't need or want to know what they were talking about. Pretty soon they were at the apartment and Bucky smiled as Vivian opened her eyes and smiled back at him.

"All right. Vote now. Food or Aunt Peggy first?" Stark said.

"Peggy," Steve admitted. "I don't want to keep her waiting, especially if she's having a good day today."

Stark shrugged, "Then we'll drop everything off upstairs and then be back down."

"I'll wait down here. Can you grab me a bottle of water, Pepper?"

"Sure, Happy," Pepper said with a smile.

They all piled out of the car. Steve and Bucky grabbed all their luggage while Vivian rolled her eyes and laughed, "I can carry my own."

Bucky shrugged, holding one in each hand as he said, "I've got it."

Vivian rolled her eyes and the five of them got into the apparently private elevator to head to the penthouse.

"Tony and I stay here periodically," Pepper explained as the doors closed. "I have some clothing here specifically for when we stay and we let the housekeeper know when we'll be here so the fridge is stocked. Maria stays here a lot when she visits DC for us. One of the rooms is designated hers. Don't worry about accidentally choosing it. She locks it when she's not here."

Bucky nodded, but then eyed Tony warily as he scoffed, "I mean, we have a key to that room, right?"

" _I_ have the key to the room, Tony."

"So _we_ have a key."

"If you mean we as in Maria and I have a key to that room, then yes, _we_ do." Tony gaped and Pepper just smirked, stepping off the elevator. They all stepped off after her, but before Tony could complain, Pepper pointed down a hall and said, "Bedrooms are that way."

Steve immediately took the lead and Bucky followed. The first room they opened seemed fine enough. The bed seemed large enough for the three of them. The room itself was sparsely decorated in blues, grays, and whites. There was a large window with a sitting area. Shoving his bag under the bed, Bucky checked to see a large bathroom and the door next to that was a closet that when he'd first woken up would have nearly given him a heart attack. It was the size of a small room.

"Everyone good?"

Nodding at Steve, Bucky smiled softly over at Viv. She blushed and shrugged, "I'm not sure, but before anyone asks, I don't want to stay behind."

Steve stared at her for a moment, but then sighed. "All right, let's go. Just a reminder, that if anyone changes their mind then--"

"Then we'll hang out in the hallway or out in the car or something until it's over," Vivian said. "Although I doubt that will happen."

Steve nodded, not necessarily looking reassured by that comment, but more that he accepted it. The trip back out to the car felt so much quicker than the trip to the apartment had felt. Bucky stayed quiet and ignored the soft chatter around him. He let it become background noise as he realized this was the first person from the war that he would see, outside of Steve and Viv, that he wasn't there to kill.

His metal hand gripped into a fist and he pressed it against his thigh, a rush of anger toward himself nearly consuming him. Peggy wasn't going to be in any danger. Steve and Viv were going to be _in the room with him_ , and Tony was still going to be in the building.

Nothing bad was going to happen. Everyone was going to be okay.

It was Vivian's hand squeezing his that let him know they'd arrived. He could feel Steve's concerned stare, but nothing was said. Bucky made sure to give him a quick smile, glad to see those broad shoulders relax from their tensed state. They all headed in and Bucky bit his bottom lip as a brunette woman approached and tugged Tony into a tight hug.

Tony hugged her back before pulling back and smiling at her. Bucky couldn't hear what they said quietly to each other, but Tony then slipped into the room while Pepper hugged the woman next. Pepper though, did pull back and smile, "Aunt Angie, you already know Steve, but this is Bucky and Vivian. Vivian, Bucky, this is Peggy's wife Angie."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," Bucky said, holding out his hand for a handshake. His eyes widened though when Angie smiled.

"Can I have a hug instead?" He nodded, a bit confused by her request, but smiled as she pulled him into a hug and laughed, "Jesus, you're as handsome as Steve and Peggy said you were. Thought they were making you up or exaggerating."

Bucky blushed bright red and took a step back, scratching at the back of his neck as Vivian laughed, "C'mon, everyone's seen Buck's enlistment photo by now. You knew he was handsome."

" _Maybe_ I caught a glimpse," Angie laughed and then pulled Viv into a hug. Pepper smiled and nodded to them before excusing herself into the room.

After the door shut, Steve nodded to the door and asked, "Is Peggy actually doing well today?"

Angie nodded, her expression growing wistful, "Yes. She's having more good days lately, thanks to the new medication."

"New medication?" Vivian asked carefully.

"Oh, yes. I'd say ask Tony about it, but I doubt he would admit it. He visits Peggy a few times a year, you see. Never makes a huge fuss over it, but I know he worries, considering he calls about her even more than he visits her. Plus, just all the people with him who check in, visit, and make sure everything she needs is taken care of."

"Who all checks in?" Vivian asked curiously.

"Pepper's been an absolute godsend with the way she gets things done. Peggy has said more than once that if Pepper had been around back in the day that she would have been snapped up for sure as a SHIELD recruit by her. That nice woman Maria stops by whenever she's in town. Lovely woman. Happy calls to schedule deliveries of things.

"And then of course, the Stark Foundation devoted a whole chunk of their funding to Alzheimer's research. Bought out a well-established place and practically catapulted their research forward. That time and money meant we got this new medicine. It's not a cure. Her diagnosis itself hasn't changed, merely delayed a bit. It will eventually take its toll, but right now she has more time than she did before."

"That's amazing," Steve said, and Bucky could hear the tightness in his throat. Vivian slid one of her hands into his and pressed a soft kiss to his shoulder and he smiled weakly at her. Bucky took his other hand in his and pressed a soft kiss to his knuckles. They both smiled at each other and Bucky felt warmth pool in his stomach upon seeing that smile. He loved that smile.

"Just adorable. Peg'll love the three of you," Angie said, practically beaming.

Steve blushed and Bucky could feel his own cheeks heat up, but then glanced over as Vivian teased, "Oh, we're usually awful. Just absolutely awful. Can barely stand being in the same room. Like one of those sitcom couples, but just a third there."

"Right, I'm sure the three of you are constantly at each other's throats," Angie said drily.

"Oh, guarantee," Bucky found himself saying. "You should see when Steve eats all the lo mein. Absolute horror scene."

Steve rolled his eyes, "I ate all the lo mein _once_ and you both said you were done eating it."

"For _now_ ," Vivian stressed. "We were done _for now_. Those were supposed to be for refueling after…"

"After fondue?" Angie teased.

Bucky snorted as Steve turned bright red. Meanwhile, Vivian looked confused. Angie noticed and explained with a grin, "While Steve was on the way to Azzano, Howard invited Peggy for some _fondue_. Steve asked Peggy if her and Stark…fondue, if you know what I mean."

"That is…that is not what I meant," Steve sighed. "I wanted to know if they were…"

"Liar," Bucky interrupted as Vivian nearly cackled. "You absolutely wanted to know if they were, pardon my language ma'am, fucking."

"Buck _\--_ " Steve began, looking a little nervous as he glanced at Angie.

"Howard always was jealous that I got to fuck Peg and he never got to even watch," Angie interrupted with a smirk. "A lot of men got real jealous about how she chose me over them. They all eventually got over it. Daniel even invited us to his wedding to that pretty nurse."

"Did he know that you two were--" Bucky began

"Fucking?" Angie said with a grin, cutting off his fondue joke at the knees. "Yes, he knew. He supported us. We were lucky. We had a lot of people on our side."

Angie smiled wistfully and they were silent for a moment, just letting her think before she whispered. "It's a good thing too, because there was no way I was letting go of the most astoundingly wonderful woman I'd ever met."

"Bet you were a mess when you first met her," Vivian teased.

Angie scoffed, "I'll have you know that not only was I cool and composed, but I actually flirted with her first. Especially once I heard her speak. Good God. Body like that _and_ that accent? I was hooked. And then we actually talked and she was so damn smart, and I _knew_ she didn't work for any damn telephone company. She actually got to see my best two acting performances ever in my career. The role I won an Oscar for, and all the years I pretended I was straight when I was a raging queer. Should have won a lifetime achievement award just for that."

Angie then sighed, "Although Peggy likes to joke that I was so very obvious in my queerness that I should have won several razzies for that performance. She claims my best performance was when I burst into tears to distract some agents. I say that doesn't count, because those men were just idiots. I mean, I did do a great job, but them being convinced wasn't exactly a sign of anything. What about the three of you? Which one of you was the most convincingly fake straight?"

Bucky glared when Vivian and Steve both pointed at him, "What? C'mon. Viv was the _actual spy_."

"And that's why all of her powers were being used to make people think she wasn't a spy instead of covering up the queer vibes entirely," Steve said solemnly.

Bucky rolled his eyes, but then grinned, "I mean, we are in agreement that you were the _worst_ at it, right?"

"It's less that he did the worst job and more that, before the serum, he just looked like the definition of a twink became sapient," Vivian said, barely containing her laughter.

"I'm breaking up with both of you," Steve sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

Vivian then paused and admitted, "Long term though, I did do the best job out of the three of us, because there are definitely sites that figured out that you two were together and a very small selection of people that figure the three of us together. People don’t usually get 'bisexual' from that for me. The funniest theories are about how you two pined after each other for years while I just got between you two and prevented you from having true happiness."

Bucky wasn't surprised when Steve looked legitimately annoyed by that last sentence to the point where he shook his head and snapped "Those people don't know what the fuck they're talking about. We would never…" Steve paused and squeezed his eyes shut. Bucky was pretty certain he was counting back from ten.

"She knows," Bucky said quietly. Vivian nodded, but then blushed as Bucky teased, "Although, it does bear repeating that we are both head over heels for you."

Steve wrapped an arm around both of them, pulling them tightly as he gave each of them a quick kiss on the lips.

"Absolute cutest," Angie said with a smile, gazing at the three of them softly.

The door opened and Bucky watched as Pepper rolled her eyes while gently dragging Tony out of the room as he called over his shoulder, "I'm telling you that Steve's a big boy and he can handle it if you just let him know that I'm your favorite instead of him."

Pepper had looked exasperated, but then grinned wildly as Peggy's voice trailed out of the room, "Oh, but Tony, I wouldn't want to _lie_ to him."

Tony looked actually stunned and stumbled slightly. Angie stood up and laughed, "Chin up, Tony. You are one of Peg's favorites and you know it."

That seemed to cheer Tony up _slightly_ , but not much and he folded his arms across his chest as he pointed toward Bucky and Vivian before announcing, "Aunt Peggy definitely likes me more than you two though."

Bucky shrugged, "Okay."

"Congratulations, Tony, you rank higher than me, a woman Peggy spoke to for exactly five minutes once in the middle of a war. What an honor. What an achievement. Bonus points if she also likes you more than the guy who was really helpful to her that one time at a hardware store," Vivian deadpanned.

Steve snorted, but covered it up with a cough. Bucky had to hide his laughter by just pressing his face to Steve's shoulder. Pepper smirked and Angie just outright guffawed. Tony glared and grumbled something under his breath though as Pepper rubbed his back.

Bucky wrapped an arm around Vivian's waist as Steve headed into the room first, whispering into her ear, "Someone's feisty today."

"One of life's true, pure joys is knocking Tony Stark off his high horse."

Bucky snorted and shook his head as he stared at Vivian. He knew he looked lovesick, but he couldn't help himself. She smiled at him and he pulled her a little closer and pressed a soft kiss to her lips before walking into the room. Steve was waiting for them, a soft expression on his face. As soon as they were in the room, Steve led them over and stood behind them while announcing, "Peggy, let me give you a real introduction to the loves of my life, Bucky Barnes and Vivian Peshkova."

"Still so dramatic," Peggy chuckled. "And do your paramours need to be introduced to me?"

"Margaret Carter," Vivian said with a grin. "Not really. Legends typically don't need introductions."

Peggy practically beamed before she chuckled, "Oh, this one's as clever as I remember. Better not let this one go, Steven."

Bucky couldn't help but smile as Steve smiled at Vivian adoringly, "Let a gem like Viv go? Never."

Vivian rolled her eyes, but then blushed as Bucky smirked at her and said, "The real big damn hero out of the three of us."

Bucky rolled his own eyes though as Steve frowned at him and insisted, "Wouldn't trade you for anything either, Buck, and you _are_ a big damn hero."

"Yes, yes, the three of you are all ' _big damn heroes_ ' as you put it," Peggy laughed.

Steve immediately looked sheepish and apologized, "I'm sorry, Peg. We came here to talk to you and the three of us--"

"The three of you are in love and are no worse than Angie and I are when we go anywhere together," Peggy interrupted with a small smile. She then looked at the three of them and sighed, "Besides, it took quite some time, time _and_ heartache, for you three to be reunited. No one can really fault you if you wish to dote upon each other now that you have the chance to do so."

Bucky smiled, but then winced as Steve sighed, "Well, I'm doting on them as much as I can. We're still figuring out how to be an open…triad."

Peggy nodded, "That will be more difficult. People still aren't the best about relationships outside the 'traditional'. It is better than it was before though, and I'd rather like to believe that I had something to do with it."

"You did," Steve insisted. "You and Angie did so much for the world and…I'm so proud of you."

Peggy waved her hand aside and smiled, "We merely played our parts. Others contributed far more than we did. We merely used our position of privilege to help…bankroll certain things."

Bucky chuckled at that and then asked, "You punch anyone?"

Peggy's eyes glinted deviously as she demurely said, "A few, yes. All deserving, I promise."

"Well, as long as they deserved it," Steve teased.

"You of all people have no room to tease me, Steven. You told me about all the fights you got into. Or rather, all the fights you lost," Peggy pointed out.

Bucky rolled his eyes as Steve held up his hands and laughed, "No judgment, I swear. I for one think a few more people could afford to get some sense knocked into 'em by Director Margaret Carter."

Peggy's smile slid off her face at that and Bucky's eyes widened as she glanced between him and Viv. She then sighed and said, "Thank you for reminding me of the position I held. I do need to apologize to both Sergeant Barnes and Nurse Peshkova. I'd heard rumors, of course, of the Winter Soldier and Hecate during my time as director of SHIELD. I thought they were just that. I thought they were rumors, legends, ways for someone to obfuscate their crimes on someone who didn't exist. I should have looked further into things."

"Thank you, but I don't blame you for anything that happened," Bucky said, and he meant it. He really did mean it. He leaned forward and gently squeezed Peggy's hand while reassuring her, "None of that was on you, I swear."

Peggy blinked back tears and squeezed Bucky's hand with both of hers. The grip was still strong and Bucky chuckled, leaning forward and kissing her knuckles before he sat back. He glanced over in surprise though as Vivian looked like she was struggling with something.

"What is it?" Peggy asked. "I know what they made you do to Montgomery and Dugan, but I know it wasn't your--"

"Hydra hated you." Vivian said, staring at the floor. Her brows were furrowed, but then she laughed, almost bitterly. "They really wanted me to hate you too. Fennhoff hilariously once even so far as called you my 'greatest adversary'. I told him that it was nonsense and that we weren't foes of any kind."

"Why would they want you to hate me?" Peggy asked, but Bucky could tell she knew the answer. She just wanted Viv to say it.

"They were afraid of what you could discover and how you could impede their plans. They wanted you dead. And not just that, they wanted me angry enough where I'd kill you without them forcing me to do so. I guess they figured if that blood was well and truly on my hands they'd have another thing to hold over my head. I made it clear that I didn't hate you, and then I…I convinced them that your death, even an accidental death, would make everyone investigate. I told them--"

"You saved my life," Peggy whispered.

"I wouldn't take it that far," Vivian scoffed. "Dorothy's obsession with you definitely helped things for a while."

" _Dorothy_ was involved?" Peggy laughed.

Vivian nodded and shrugged, "Yeah. Was real interested in you and Angie. She did have your place bugged, by the way. Although I don't actually think she told Hydra everything she learned, because she knew about you dating Angie long before you were public, and as far as I know, there were no discussions even about going after her until after that. And by then, the timing really would have been rough."

Bucky's winced at the expression on Vivian's face. Her hands were clenched by her sides and he could tell she wanted to just flee. Before he could go over to her, Steve gently took her hand into his and laced his fingers with hers. Bucky shook his head and then went over, crouching in front of Vivian. He gently squeezed her other hand as he gently reassured her, "No one in this room blames you."

"Sergeant Barnes is right," Peggy said. Vivian didn't look completely convinced. Peggy chuckled, "I was the head of a very powerful organization for decades. I have done things that I'm not entirely proud of. And some of the things I'm proud of I probably should not be." She then laughed, "When Angie first brought me the details she'd gotten for me about the things that were done, she rather expected me to be furious with both of you." She frowned, "I was rather furious with myself though. I reached out to Anthony and requested information about what had been done to you, for information about what they did to make you do those things and I understood. I understood exactly whose fault it was, and it wasn't yours."

Steve was beaming, his eyes watery, and Bucky smiled as Steve took Bucky's hand in his. Shaking his head, Bucky grinned as Peggy announced, "And I told my niece Sharon that if anyone in the reunion treats any of you poorly, they will have to fight me. And I don't care how old I am, I am more than a match for most people."

"Always did have a mean right hook," Steve laughed.

"Damn right. And I believe it has only gotten better," Peggy said, tilting her chin up.

Vivian smiled weakly and teased, "I mean, you can always give me a little warning before you punch someone and I can maybe sort of make it so that they hit a wall or something. Make it look even better."

Peggy threw her head back and laughed, looking thoroughly delighted. Bucky stood up, kissed both Viv and Steve, and then sat back down in his seat. He smiled widely as Peggy sighed, "Wonderful idea. If I'm feeling up for it during the reunion, we absolutely must give a demonstration. The three of you are all going, of course?"

"Yes, ma'am," Bucky said, earning himself a wry grin. He then chuckled, "Got any intel on the people that are gonna be there?"

Peggy laughed, "Oh, there are far too many people there for even me to keep track of. Can barely keep track of my own relatives." She smiled and shook her head, "My niece Sharon seems to know everything about everyone though. Since there are so many people, everyone has a badge showing which Howling Commando they're related to, so that should help. It's all rather good fun. Although I will say you will _hear_ Dugan's relatives long before you see them. They are every bit as boisterous as he was."

Peggy then paused and sighed, "You absolutely must speak with Trip. He's a delightful man. He's Gabe's grandson. He visits me more than most, and I was the first person he told once he became a SHIELD agent. Well, after his mother, of course."

Bucky cleared his throat before he asked, "Do you ever… spend time with my sisters?"

Peggy smiled, "The Barnes sisters? Absolutely. Now _those_ three are trouble and I now outright refuse to play poker with them." Steve snorted at that and Peggy scoffed, "You laugh, but those three make the game far too rich for my blood. They get _very_ competitive. And also last time I played against them, they won my best bottle of wine right out from under me."

Bucky nodded, smiling as Peggy gently took his hand and squeezed it, "Don't worry. They called me soon after they were told about what happened to you. Asked me all sorts of questions. At first they weren't sure how to feel, but they're just happy that you're home. You will be expected to spend quite a bit of time with them though. And also they are going to want you to get onto social media of some kind."

Bucky sighed with relief and nodded, "Thanks, Peggy."

Peggy nodded, but then took a sip of her glass of water before asking, "Although I believe first they would like to see the three of you married. After all, none of us are getting any younger and we would like to see a wedding."

Steve bit his bottom lip before he said, "The problem is that only two of us could be legally married. The third could only be a ceremony. And I don't know how to decide which one of us to say should be left out of the legal side."

Bucky winced at that before rubbing his hands over his face as Vivian said, "And the problem with us is that we're all dramatic idiots, so we'll all volunteer to be the person left out of the legal side of it. Steve will volunteer because he was going to have Bucky and I get married in the first place. I'll volunteer because I'm a bad person. Steve getting married to a man will piss off republicans, and that also makes me happy. Bucky will volunteer because he doesn't think he deserves good things."

Steve cleared his throat and stared at the ground before confessing, "Actually, I'm not sure if I'm selfless enough to say that. When I first got the serum, I realized for the first time that I could actually maybe father children and get married…and I really wanted to be the one to do that." He sent a furtive glance over at Bucky as he whispered, "I'm sorry."

Bucky felt an ache in his chest at just how absolutely contrite Steve looked. Gently cupping Steve's face in his hand as he said, "You didn't do anything wrong, baby."

"You three are so dramatic," Peggy said, rolling her eyes. "Just have two of you marry legally to start out, and you'll figure out how to legally marry the third later. Or none of you can legally be married and you can just have a ceremony while making sure to set everything up securely with your lawyers. There will be a few things that fall through the cracks for a while, but I managed to be just married to my wife spiritually rather than legally for several decades. I promise you that the piece of paper did nothing but make hospital visits more convenient. And it changed our tax standing."

For a moment, the three of them just stared until Vivian said, "Huh. That really would work."

Peggy snorted and shook her head, "Are the three of you always so dire about everything? It won't be _easy_ for the three of you to be together publicly, but there is nothing legally stopping you. And if Vivian wants to be a parent, all three of you will be the parents. And if it's a matter of biology, there are solutions for that. The three of you have survived _so much_ for each other that I promise you that you can survive bureaucracy, no matter how mind numbingly dull it is."

Bucky nodded and chuckled, "Yeah, we tend to…be kind of…" He sighed and tilted his head as he struggled to think of the right word.

"Catastrophic? Absolute drama queens?" Peggy teased.

"Yeah, that," Bucky chuckled.

Peggy shook her head, "It's understandable that you are after everything you've gone through, but do try to just search online for an answer before you resign to self-sacrifice. And I do mean all three of you need to cut that out. You're all equally dramatic."

The four of them went silent for a few minutes. Bucky realized that Peggy was actually right about the three of them. They did have trouble just looking for solutions before they wallowed. The contemplative silence was broken though as Vivian said, "Bucky's actually the least dramatic out of the three of us."

Immediately the rest of them glanced at her and she shrugged, "I never said he wasn't dramatic, just less dramatic than Steve or myself, and that's not too high of a bar."

Peggy rolled her eyes, "The three of you are a matched set."

She then yawned and Steve was immediately on his feet and pressing a kiss to Peggy's cheek. He squeezed her hand as he reassured her, "Rest, all right? We'll talk more tomorrow. "

"That is a rather good idea, actually."

Bucky got up and headed to the door, opening it and motioning Angie in. She immediately came in and smiled, sitting on the edge of Peggy's bed. Bucky watched as she gently stroked Peggy's hair. Peggy smiled up at her, her expression just absolutely steeped in love as she whispered, "I believe I've rather tired myself out."

"It's all right, English. You did damn good today. Besides, these three are probably starving."

Bucky blushed and was glad that the gurgling of his stomach hadn't been loud enough to hear. Nor had it done any comedic timing of its own. They each one by one hugged Peggy, but when it came to be his turn, Bucky couldn't help but get a little misty eyed as Peggy whispered, "Remember that you're a good man that deserves good things, Sergeant Barnes."

Pulling back, Bucky kissed her cheek and then hugged Angie before following the others out of the room. Before he could ask Vivian or Steve if Peggy had said anything to them before they left, Tony was standing up and loudly babbling about 'the best restaurant in DC' as they got into the car again. The sound of the place made Bucky's skin crawl. It sounded too high end. Reservations. Food he'd never heard of before. He tensed as he realized he'd have to stay in public and risk someone spotting him for even longer.

"Actually, Tony, how about we get some takeout and eat back in the apartment?" Pepper interrupted. Bucky was so grateful, he could have kissed her.

Tony paused, but within seconds was babbling about how he'd upgraded _all_ the technology in the apartment so they could watch 'basically any movie ever made and it would feel like being in a theater'. Bucky stopped paying attention though and just leaned his head on Steve's shoulder. Vivian was on the other side of him, halfway onto his lap and he smiled at her, reaching over and taking her hand in his. Maybe visiting with Peggy had taken more out of him than he'd realized. He winced at that thought. The rest of the week, except for Saturday, was going to be just so many people.

The week was going to be exhausting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't remember if Happy actually is afraid of flying or if this is just something I decided. I also just don't care since I don't particularly care about Happy. Sorry y'all. lmao
> 
> I also stand by decision to say that Tony cares a fuckload about his aunt Peggy and visits her and helps her out way more than most people realize.
> 
> I am still so overwhelmed by the responses y'all have been giving me and I just can't thank you enough. I love reading your comments. They fill me with such joy.


	5. Five: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None that I can think of, but as always, if I miss a warning/tag/whatever, please let me know.
> 
> Originally posted on August 2nd, 2020. Reposted on October 3rd, 2020.

The three Barnes sisters were just as boisterous as Vivian remembered, perhaps more so than she remembered. It'd be an easy choice to spend the first day of the reunion week with them. Meeting up with them was how they figured out more about where they were and how it was all happening. Apparently every year for this reunion, Tony rented out a space for it to happen in, which made it even more ridiculous that she'd invited him along on this trip. He was bankrolling the whole event so he didn't actually need an invitation of any kind.

It was thoughts like that, amongst others, that kept her from truly focusing on what was going on. That and how overwhelming it all felt. For the first fifteen minutes, it'd been a lot of crying and hugging as the sisters were reunited with their brother. Vivian had been pulled into a few of those tearful hugs. Finally it calmed down though and Vivian could feel when the typical Barnes humor started coming back into the room. She stood back as Becca hugged Bucky tightly and scolded him, "Look at your hair! It's longer than Maggie's!"

"Grandma, he's older than you. I think he's allowed to choose what his hair looks like," Maggie laughed.

Liz shook her head, wiping the last of her tears away, "Look at that face. I have grandchildren older than this one now."

Bucky just laughed, his eyes twinkling as he teased, "Listen, it's not my fault you three just didn't age as well as I did. I always was the best looking of us, and--" Vivian couldn't help but smile as Bucky got cut off by uproarious laughter.

James stood near his grandmother Ida looking slightly worried as Ida laughed so hard she went into a coughing fit before she scoffed, "You may have been the vainest of us, James Buchanan Barnes, but you were never the best looking."

"I happen to think he was the best looking," Steve teased.

"You don't count," all three sisters announced at once before laughing wildly.

Bucky shook his head and shrugged, "Well, regardless, I'm not cutting my hair unless I feel like it."

"You okay?" Fred asked and Vivian found herself shaking her head. It was odd talking to Fred since the woman looked _so much_ like Bucky's mom.

Before Fred could ask anything else, Vivian asked, "They're not gonna notice right now, but I just need some space. Can you make sure no one thinks I'm vanished or got in trouble or something? I just need a moment."

"Sure," Fred said with a frown. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"No," Vivian said with a soft smile. "But thank you. You're very sweet. And honestly you are the spitting image of Bucky's mother, so…"

Fred laughed, "Really? People usually tell that to Maggie."

Vivian shook her head, "Nah, Maggie just looks like Becca. You look like Winnie. She was amazing, by the way. A real powerhouse." Vivian blinked back tears and cleared her throat, "Anyway…I just need a breather."

Fred nodded and Vivian smiled weakly before then slipping out of the room. The Barnes' family had gotten a private area, away from all the chaos, just for this specific reunion. It became more obvious once she saw the dozens of people in the regular area. She ducked into the first open door she could find nearby and heaved a sigh of relief as she saw that it was empty. Running her hands over her face, she took a long drink from her water bottle and sat down on the floor. She had her phone on her which meant her guess of how long until Steve knew she was gone was trackable down to the second. And she'd been right as her phone buzzed.

_Viv, where'd you go? Are you okay?_

Vivian sighed and tried to put her feelings into words as she stared at her phone. She saw that he was typing and then that he stopped typing. This repeated several times for a couple minutes before she got another text.

_Fred says you needed a break. Do you want me to come to you? I just want to make sure you're okay._

Sighing, Vivian realized that if she didn't answer, he was for sure going to call her and so she quickly texted him back.

_I'm not going to lie to you and say I'm fine, because I'm not. I'm just a little overwhelmed right now. I just needed some air. I'm still in the building. I haven't left. Stay with Bucky._

_You sure?_

_I'm sure. <3 I love you._

_I love you too, and if you change your mind, let me know and I will be there. Or text Bucky and he will be. Or both of us can come._

Vivian sent a series of heart emojis to him and sighed, laying back on the floor. Dozens of people were out there and they all had opinions about her. No one had been _rude_ to her as she'd come in, but they'd all given her _looks_. If she were going to be honest with herself, she wasn't sure if the looks actually had been judgmental or if she'd just been paranoid. At this point, both of those options were possible.

"Holy shit. Sorry. We thought this room was empty."

The voice had come from a woman and Vivian sat up and glanced over as two people came into the room. The couple was hand in hand, and they'd been laughing to themselves. It took a couple seconds before Vivian realized that the two people were, based on her memory from photos she'd seen, Antoine Triplett and Skye. Immediately both their eyes widened as their gazes met.

"Oh my God. You're Vivian Peshkova," Skye said, looking more than a little mystified.

Vivian nodded and sighed, "Yeah. That'd be me. You're Antoine Triplett and Skye, right?"

"You know who we are?" Antoine asked, looking shocked. "Also, call me Trip."

"I can do that, Trip, and well, I wouldn't say I know who you are. I've heard about you. Even before I started looking into who all would be at this little reunion. Hydra and all that."

Trip looked a little conflicted, but Skye looked defensive as she said, "Oh really? What'd Hydra say about us?"

"Pretty typical stuff. They wanted to know what was used to save Skye and Coulson and they eventually figured that out. They also wanted to know Skye's whole backstory. I'm guessing you guys figured that out, but if you did, it wasn't ever told to me. They kept an eye on Trip both because you're a damn good agent and also you're a legacy."

"Wait, you know about Coulson?"

Vivian rolled her eyes at Skye's question and scoffed, "Of course I know about Coulson. Basically anyone who was anyone in Hydra knew Coulson got revived. I knew a bit, but then I found out more when that son of a bitch Garrett showed up with those vials of blue liquid. He wanted to use them on me to figure out how to utilize the healing powers from them."

"Wait, wait, _hold up_. He went to _you_ first?" Skye gaped.

Vivian nodded, "Yeah. I pointed out that using it on me is pointless unless you know how to intricately reverse engineer my body and even then, using me as a testing ground is a gamble. _Did that medication work because it worked or did I just happen to survive thanks to everything else?_ That's a question scientists don't really care for when they experiment most of the time. But due to all of that, I am _very_ aware that Coulson is alive and the new head of SHIELD."

" _Shit_ ," Trip sighed. "He wanted to keep that on the downlow."

"Too late. Anyone who's even slightly curious can find it in the info dump Romanoff caused, and that means Stark knows which means that the Avengers know. And even if the Avengers didn't know from that, I would have told them anyway."

Skye giggled and then burst into laughter, causing both of the other people in the room to stare at her for a moment before she laughed, "Sorry. I just realized that all of Phil's heroes actively have thought about him and talked about him, and when we tell him that, he's going to lose it."

Trip chuckled, "God, he really is. He loves Captain America."

"Yeah, Steve told me about all of that," Vivian admitted. "Apparently he was more than a little bit awkward when they met."

"Wait, _what did he do_? He won't tell us. _You have to tell us_ ," Skye begged.

Vivian smirked and moved closer before laughing, "He asked Steve to sign some trading cards with his face on him."

" _No_ , he didn't!" Skye laughed. "That's amazing!"

Skye sat down in front of her and Vivian grinned as she shrugged, "Yeah. I don't know what happened with those things. I forgot to ask about them, honestly."

Trip sat down as well as he asked, "Not that it's not amazing to meet you, but where are…"

Vivian grinned as Trip trailed off, looking a little awkward. She took pity on him though and decided to answer his questions honestly. "Steve and Bucky are talking to Bucky's relatives right now." She then smiled at his confused expression and admitted, "I was in there, but got a little overwhelmed, so I took a breather in here."

Trip chuckled, "Yeah, I get that. The Barnes clan can get wild."

"Can you settle a bet for us?" Skye blurted out. Immediately Trip groaned and placed his face in his hands while shaking his head.

Vivian laughed, "Well, I should be afraid from Trip's reaction, but sure, I can settle a bet."

Skye beamed, "Excellent. So which one are you dating? Barnes? Rogers? What's up there?"

"Wait, you guys don't know?" Vivian grinned. "I figured for sure that one of the Barnes sisters would have spilled the beans on that one."

"So it _is_ Bucky," Trip said, looking thrilled and then sending a triumphant stare over at Skye. Skye rolled her eyes at him.

"What were the other guesses?" Vivian asked curiously to Skye.

"I guessed that you were doing a solid for Bucky by being his fake girlfriend so he could date Steve," Skye began, thinking carefully. "Fitzsimmons both think you're dating Bucky because Steve was with Peggy. Mac and May refused to participate. Hunter did too, shockingly. Bobbi has a wild conspiracy theory that three of you were together."

"And what does the winner get?"

"Bragging rights, mostly," Skye laughed.

Trip grinned, "But also they don't have inventory for a month."

"I see," Vivian murmured. She then grinned, "Then pass along my congratulations to Bobbi for being right."

Skye and Trip both gaped before Skye whispered, "Wait, _seriously_? You're dating _both of them_?"

"Yup." Before Skye could ask anything else, Vivian shrugged, "No, we're not out as a triad and try to not have that leave your little group. I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing if it got out from someone else, but I just really want us to be able to come out on our own terms. Although, I have no idea how this information will affect us if we go to trial."

"You think you're gonna go to trial?" Trip asked, frowning.

Vivian shrugged, "I have no idea. I honestly don't care if I end up going to trial, but I don't want Bucky to have to go through that. It's too much. Besides, none of it was his fault. Regardless, I have to proceed as though a trial will happen. So that means even though I wanna talk to, say, Dugan and Monty's families, I can't really. I almost wrote them a letter explaining everything. My lawyer found out first and shouted 'no' so loudly that I thought I was gonna go deaf. Again."

" _Again_?" Skye exclaimed.

"Yeah," Vivian sighed. "I've gone deaf a few times. And blind." The two stared at her and she shrugged, "What? I got over it."

They both snorted and Skye laughed, clearly joking as she asked, "What, like you just regrew your eyes or something?"

"Basically," Vivian said, standing up and stretching. The laughter died and Vivian shrugged, "It's fine. Wasn't the worst thing I've ever healed from."

"That's…kind of terrifying," Skye whispered.

Vivian shrugged, "I'd say you get used to it, but that would be a lie." She then grinned, "Let's change it to a happier subject. Your boss coming back from the dead. He good? I know that sort of thing can be rough."

Skye smiled weakly and admitted, "He's healthy. Just…"

"Still dealing?" Vivian asked. "I get that. Although hey, since we know he's alive, he might as well visit us. Maybe that'll cheer him up."

" _Seriously_?" Trip asked with a grin. "You better be serious, because Coulson will _absolutely_ take you up on that. Probably after he faints."

"I mean, it's not like I'm inviting him to stay for an entire weekend since I feel like that'd be more than he could handle, and also more than I'll tolerate probably, but yeah, he can visit. You also can visit," Vivian said with a shrug.

" _Oh, we are so going to be Phil's favorites_ ," Skye laughed. She then smirked, "And we still have to get Peggy Carter's signature for Simmons."

Vivian frowned and then sighed, "Right. The biochemist."

"They really did tell you about us, didn't they?" Skye said, sounding a little unnerved.

"Yep," Vivian nodded. She then moved closer and teased, "So, are you two together or _together_?"

" _Together_ ," Skye emphasized, standing up taller. "You have a problem with that?"

Vivian grinned, "That your boyfriend is handsome and charming? I usually don't have a problem with that. Besides, I was asking, because Trip over here _definitely_ knows Peggy personally and visits her. So at any point he could just introduce Simmons to her. And he could have gotten Peggy's autograph for her at any time."

Skye whirled around and pointed her finger at Trip, " _You said we had to come here in order to get it_!"

"Thanks for ratting me out," Trip said, faking a glare before laughing. He then held up his hands and said, "Listen, _maybe_ it wasn't necessary to ask you to come here, but I just wanted you to come with me, and I thought you'd be more likely to say yes if it was for a good cause."

"You're an idiot," Skye said, shaking her head. Her expression was soft though and Vivian grinned before clapping her hands.

"Great, you two aren't actually fighting, which I'm relieved about, 'cause I don't want to be responsible for that. I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing I'd be responsible for, but it would be a bummer. Anyway, come with me to see the Barnes clan again. I think I'm ready to go back."

"You want us to meet Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, and the entire Barnes family?" Skye said, grabbing her arm to stop her.

Vivian nodded, her brow furrowed, "Yeah. Do you _not_ wanna--"

"Oh, no, I do! I _definitely_ do."

"Good," Vivian grinned. "Let's go. If I stay away any longer, I do think Steve is going to track me down just to make sure I'm not like, maimed or something."

"Maimed? Why would you be maimed?" Skye laughed.

"I tend to have little to no self-preservation skills," Vivian shrugged.

The three of them left the room and as they headed back toward the Barnes room, people milling about stared at them. It was enough where Skye raced up and whispered, "Shit, do people always stare at you like that?"

"Not usually this much," Vivian muttered, opening the door and heading into the room. She was barely through the door when she was lifted off the floor in a tight hug. Grinning, Vivian wrapped her arms around Steve and whispered, "Couldn't have missed me that much, could you?"

"You okay?" Steve murmured, pressing a kiss to her neck.

"I'm fine, sweetheart, although you should probably say hi to Trip and Skye," Vivian whispered into Steve's ear.

Steve set her down and Vivian grinned as he blushed and stuck out his hand, "Sorry, didn't mean to ignore you. It's nice to meet you both."

Trip was grinning widely and shook Steve's hand, "Nice to meet you too, and we get it. You got distracted."

Viv rolled her eyes as Steve glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and pulled her tighter against his side as he chuckled, "Well, it's not my fault that she's this amazing."

"Kiss ass," Vivian teased.

Steve just grinned and then he shook Skye's hand as she laughed, "The team is never going to believe this."

"Coulson's team, right? Or well, I guess all of SHIELD is Coulson's team now," Steve laughed as they _slowly_ headed back across the room to the rest of the group. The speed they moved was definitely on purpose as the few dozen people there all seemed to be chattering and it was rather loud.

Skye nodded and smiled, "So you do know about Coulson being director. That's supposed to be a _secret_ , you know."

Steve paused and arched an eyebrow at Skye and Trip before he chuckled, "Of course it was. Pretty sure that's true of most of the things that got leaked. In my experience, SHIELD wasn't really interested in honesty."

"Didn't you break into their stuff?" Vivian asked, a grin spreading across her face.

"Yes, yes he did!" Tony snapped, strolling up. "He broke into their super secret closet and then stole one of their guns, but this was _after_ he had the audacity to scold me for hacking their data."

" _Did you really_?" Vivian laughed. " _Why_? There's _no way_ you cared that he was hacking SHIELD information." Steve didn't respond, just checked his phone and she laughed, " _Oh_. That's _amazing_. I get it now."

"What? What is it?" Tony demanded.

Rolling her eyes, Vivian motioned to Trip and Skye and said, "First, say hi to Antoine Triplett and Skye. They both work for SHIELD now. Trip's--"

"Yeah, yeah, he's an agent-agent and she's a hacker-agent. By the way, what's with the single name? You going for a Madonna thing or what?"

Skye had momentarily looked extremely excited before she rolled her eyes, "It's a 'none of your business' kind of thing."

"Whatever, I'll find out eventually," Tony said, turning back toward Viv and Steve. "Tell me why Captain Hall Monitor over here got so mad at me."

"Because he didn't like you," Vivian shrugged. Steve winced, but didn't deny it, and Vivian laughed, "Seriously though. Chances are you were an obnoxious shit, and so Steve just _could not help himself_. He just _really_ had to fight back."

"She's right, you know."

Vivian grinned as Bucky said that, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close as he nodded to Trip and Skye, "Nice to meet you."

Skye just nodded, looking a little dazed. Trip grinned and nodded as well. Steve was, as usual, staring at Viv and Buck with just the most lovestruck expression anyone had ever seen. Stark meanwhile was rolling his eyes. He then scoffed, "You two might as well come with me. These three idiots won't be able to hear or see anything other than each other for at least five minutes. It's the factory reset they go through every time they reunite."

"Anthony Edward Stark, you stop bothering them and get over here right now," Becca snapped, motioning to her side. Vivian distracted herself from laughing in Tony's face by glancing over. Unfortunately, the distraction didn't last long as she saw Pepper sitting next to Becca, laughing so hard into her hand that she was near tears.

"The Barnes sisters are monsters," Tony grumbled as he left.

Bucky chuckled and Vivian turned around in his arms. He leaned down slightly and she stood on her tiptoes, kissing him gently. She laughed into the kiss though as he wrapped an arm around her and lifted her off the ground, standing up.

"James Buchanan Barnes, don't you make me drag you over here."

Vivian grinned as Bucky rolled his eyes and grumbled, "God. Ninety-four years old and still a pain in my ass."

"No more than you always were to her," Vivian whispered. Bucky rolled his eyes, but then chuckled and pressed their foreheads together. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Steven Grant Rogers, you bring those two over here even if you have to carry them."

Vivian wrapped her legs around Bucky's waist. She ran her fingers through his hair, giggling as he opened his eyes and grinned before pressing a quick kiss to her lips. He nuzzled down to her neck before he murmured, "Guess we better get moving."

"C'mon, you two," Steve whispered, placing a hand on both of them. Vivian grinned over at Steve and crooked her finger at him. Steve shook his head and took her hand, leaning over and kissing her lips softly before he whispered, "C'mon."

His fingertips brushed under her shirt and she smiled before hopping down from Bucky's arms. Turning around, Vivian then winked at Skye and Trip before taking Steve and Bucky by a hand each and leading them toward Becca, Liz, and Ida. Immediately all three stood up and pulled her into a hug. Hugging them all back, Vivian smiled and giggled, scrunching up her nose as Becca pinched her cheeks and teased, "Another one that just refused to age. Incredibly rude of you, really."

"As far as crimes go, not nearly the worst thing I've ever done," Vivian teased.

Liz scoffed and waved her hand, "You snagging two men is not a crime."

Vivian laughed and went to sit down in a chair, but then shrugged and sat down on Steve's lap instead. When Bucky arched an eyebrow at her, she merely shrugged again and said, "Don't look at me like that. You're their brother. What if they need something? It'll clearly be your responsibility."

Tony snorted and rolled his eyes, whispering something to Pepper, Skye, and Trip. Whatever he said was mostly ignored by everyone else, but did make his companions snort. Bucky shook his head and chuckled, but Vivian couldn't help but smile brightly as he moved to sit in front of her. Scooting forward a bit, she sat between Steve's legs as she leaned forward and took Bucky hair out of its ponytail to begin brushing it.

"Guessing you'll be no help in making our brother cut his hair, will you?" Ida asked with a grin.

Vivian shook her head, "Not a chance. I love it. And even if I didn't, it's still Bucky's hair so he gets to make that decision."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the three of you, broken records," Liz grumbled. "Won't even let us tease our brother about how he looks like the cover of a damn romance novel with hair like that."

Bucky snorted and grinned, "You say that like it's an insult, but Ida showed me some of those covers, and hell, they look good."

Maggie, who was standing near her grandmother, burst into laughter before covering up her mouth with her hands. Viv winked at her and then grinned, "Keep complaining about his hair, and I will have Steve hand paint the three of us as a romance novel cover, and then we will send you that picture as often as possible."

"I can absolutely have Jarvis make that up for you once we're back at the tower," Tony announced, looking wildly entertained by the idea.

"You can't threaten us, not even with Stark's help," Becca scoffed. "Nothing you say can or will surprise us. We lived through the 1960s."

"So did I," Vivian laughed. She then frowned and tapped Bucky on the shoulder, "Actually, other than assassinating the president, what were we doing in the 1960s?"

" _Viv_ ," Steve hissed, gently pinching her side. His glance went nervously over to Tony, but Tony was mysteriously silent and staring at the ground.

Viv's eyes widened and then she sighed, "Oh right. Never mind, the 1960's sucked. Anyway, I can still one up you since I do know things about your brother that none of you wanna know. Lots and lots of things. Some with photographic evidence."

Instantly all three of the Barnes sisters grumbled while Liz snapped, "That's cheating and you know it."

"Oh, it's absolutely cheating, and I will do it with zero remorse," Vivian announced with glee. Tony snorted at that and Vivian winked over at him.

Bucky shook his head and chuckled. Steve snorted and gently squeezed her sides while he whispered into her ear, " _Be nice_." His arms wrapped around her waist and she leaned back against his chest.

Bucky glanced back at them, an eyebrow quirked. Vivian winked at him before she tilted her head back and whispered, "Now, what will you do if I _don't_ behave?"

Steve gently nuzzled her neck, trailing soft kisses that made her shiver before he whispered into her ear, "I will…"Vivian leaned closer, a grin spreading across her face. "…be disappointed."

Vivian slumped and frowned as Steve laughed. Becca narrowed her eyes at them, but then shook her head and sighed, "I don't actually want to know what you two just whispered to each other."

Vivian sat forward and began braiding Bucky's hair as she teased, "Oh, well now I just want to tell you even more."

"I want to know," Skye said. The smile on her face was wide and her eyes twinkled.

"I just told her to behave, that's all," Steve grinned.

The sisters all laughed before Liz scoffed, "You told someone to behave? You got in more trouble than anyone I've ever met in my entire life."

Vivian choked on her laughter. Bucky threw his head back and laughed while Steve grumbled, "I wasn't _always_ in trouble."

"Yes, you were."

Everyone had said that, even some people who hadn't even been in the conversation. Vivian could feel Steve pouting a bit, so she quickly finished up braiding Bucky's hair before she turned around. Steve smiled at her and she pressed a kiss to his lips before whispering, "The fact that you're ridiculous is one of the millions of reasons I love you."

"If you two start making out, I have a spray bottle full of water, and I _will_ spritz you," Becca threatened, pulling a spray bottle from her purse and brandishing it like a weapon.

"Oh no, water. She's never experienced _water_ before. She's really pulling out the big guns, Viv. You should hide," Bucky deadpanned only to laugh as Becca glared and sprayed him in the face with water.

"Brat," Becca grumbled.

Maggie stepped in after that and cleared her throat before smiling, "Sorry to interrupt…all of this, but I just wanted to remind you all that lunch is soon. There's a bunch of seating out there if you wanna eat with everyone or one of us can go grab your food so you can eat in here."

"Thanks, Maggie," Bucky said with a smile. Maggie beamed.

Vivian chewed on her bottom lip and then glanced between Steve and Bucky before she said, "I think I'll stick with eating in here. I'll branch out to more of the chaos tomorrow. Until then, I think I wanna ease on into this a little bit more."

Steve gently squeezed her arm before he said, "I'm gonna go with Maggie to grab the food."

"We're gonna head out there to eat," Trip said, and then walked out holding out his hand. "It was an honor to meet y'all."

Vivian shook both Trip's hand and also Skye's as well before she just slid off the chair. Vivian laughed as Bucky snagged her before she hit the ground and pulled her into his lap. She rolled her eyes though as Bucky stood up, lifting her and then sat in the chair.

"We can use more than one chair," Vivian laughed.

"True, but I don't want to," Bucky mused.

Steve rolled his eyes and pressed a kiss to each of their lips after Bucky shook the hands of Trip and Skye. Once that happened, he then turned to the couple and chuckled, "You mind if I walk out with you?"

"Absolutely," Skye said, speaking so fast it sounded like it burst from her. Her blush was cute though. Close behind followed Tony and Pepper. Vivian could hear Tony whispering about how actually he should be Skye's favorite over Steve.

"You liked them," Bucky whispered.

Vivian glanced at the sisters, who were yawning somewhat and whispering, and nodded, "I do. And I don't know. Maybe if other people in SHIELD are more like those two, then maybe we can…"

"You think they might be able to help us."

"I think we can help each other." Bucky didn't look that convinced and Vivian sighed, "Don't look at me like that. We need allies if we're going to go with the plan that you and Steve insist upon."

"You mean the plan where you stay alive and out of prison?"

"Yeah, that one. We need allies and lots of them, because the good will of your sisters and the descendants of the Howling Commandos will help, but it just…it gets a little more complicated when the statements of some of them has to be 'even though she murdered my great grandfather, I still like her.' Legally, I'm not in the same position as you. I made choices."

"They weren't real choices," Bucky snapped. It was clear he was struggling to keep his volume in check.

"Yeah, that's a great thought exercise for an ethics class or a philosophy class, but legally, that's not how this works. So I'm going to need to call in a lot of favors. Right now I've got the X-Men, I've got Pepper, I've got the Avengers, I've got multiple lawyers, and I'm gonna hopefully have as many people here as I can. If I can get the new SHIELD on our side, that's even better. Bucky…"

"Okay, I get it," Bucky sighed, pressing a kiss to her temple. He held her tightly and whispered, "I get it. And okay, let's get some allies." He then paused and grinned, "Well, mostly Steve will get allies for us."

"I'm sure we can make it up to him somehow," Vivian said with a grin.

Bucky shook his head and laughed, pressing a soft kiss to her lips before whispering in her ear, "Definitely not here."

"Dirty. I was thinking about the apartment."

Bucky shook his head and snorted, "I think Stark would kill us if he overheard that."

"Nah," Vivian laughed. "I think he'd complain about it and make fun of Steve forever, but I think he'd try to compete."

Bucky snorted, "Good luck with that." He then smiled softly and whispered, "I'm glad I came here, but also just…I'm glad you and Steve are here with me."

Vivian kissed Bucky gently and whispered, "Yeah, I'm glad about that too. I was worried that being here would be…I don't know. But being with you two makes it all worth it."

"What are you two whispering about?"

Glancing up as Steve came over with a large serving tray with three plates and three cups, Vivian admitted honestly, "We're just talking about how glad we're here with you and how being with each other makes everything better."

Steve smiled so brightly that it was like staring into the goddamn sun and Vivian grinned right back as Steve leaned over and kissed both of them before he said, "Being with you two makes things _perfect_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I happen to love both Trip and Skye. And yes, i ship them. And this is my story, so I can do whatever the fuck i want to, including having them be a couple and also have Trip live past season 2. I always thought his death was super dumb and unnecessary. Although this chapter does take place _before_ the underground alien city, for those of you that have watched or are still watching Agents of SHIELD.
> 
> Also, iamalystark mentioned in their last comment that they're currently quarantined with covid and so hopefully this helped quarantine be a little less blegh while you take care of yourself!
> 
> Same for anyone else in quarantine or even just worried. I hope every single one of you is taking care of yourself. Take deep breaths. Drink plenty of water. Remember to eat. We're all in this together. <3


	6. Six: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: none that I can think of, but I am a little bit out of it this morning so please let me know if I missed anything.
> 
> Originally posted as chapter 47 on August 16th, 2020. Reposted on October 3rd, 2020.

"C'mon out already," Bucky sighed, winking over at Vivian. "Viv and I are gettin' bored out here. Might have to take problems into our own hands."

Vivian gently nudged Bucky and shook her head while rolling her eyes. Bucky just pulled her closer and kissed her. The kiss didn't last too long though as Tony gagged while walking through the room.

"Gross, it's like watching your grandparents kiss."

Arching an eyebrow and breaking the kiss, Vivian sent a pointed stare over at Tony before reminding him, "We made out once, so in this metaphor, have you--"

Tony sputtered and went bright red while Pepper grabbed his arm and sighed, "I'll get him to the car before he can dig this hole any deeper."

"Thanks," Bucky chuckled. Tony glared and grumbled, but followed Pepper out and Vivian shook her head, grinning as Bucky gently pinched her sides while laughing, "Do you gotta push his buttons like that?"

"I don't _gotta_ , but I _want to_ ," Vivian said, not at all sorry.

Bucky kissed her again, laughing more as he teased, "So fuckin' incorrigible. I swear, if it wasn't for that damn serum, I'd have gone grey already."

"You'd look good," she said, running her fingers through his hair. His hair was wavy, thanks to her braiding his hair daily now. As she was contemplating putting his hair back into a French braid, she looked up at Steve as he entered the room and her mouth fell open slightly.

"What's got you lookin like--" Bucky followed her gaze and then gave a low whistle. "Look at you, babe. Still look fuckin' amazing in that suit."

Steve blushed bright red and scratched the back of his neck while he sighed, "They wanted me to wear it for the exhibit. There's another copy of it on the mannequin, but--" He trailed off and blushed.

"You're keeping this one, right?" Vivian asked, trying to not sound _too_ eager.

Immediately Steve's eyes lit up and he came over, leaning over the back of the couch as he chuckled, "I might. It's growing on me."

Bucky snorted, but Vivian glared over at him before she gently pulled Steve closer so that their faces were mere inches apart as she whispered, "You should. After all, I never did get to have fun with you in this outfit like Bucky did."

"She's got a point, Steve," Bucky said with a grin.

"You're both absolutely incorrigible," Steve sighed.

"Us being incorrigible is definitely in the top ten reasons you love us though," Vivian said, leaning up again until the tip of her nose brushed up against Steve's. He kissed her softly, and she smiled.

"I love _everything_ about the two of you," Steve emphasized, not for the first time. He then leaned over and kissed Bucky before he stood up and pointed at both of them. "You sure you don't wanna come? The event's only a few hours "

"Yeah, we'll be okay here," Bucky said with a chuckle. "Although we'll probably move back to the actual bedroom so we don't piss off Stark any more than we already have."

"Spoil sport," Vivian muttered.

Both Steve and Bucky shot her a glance and she put on her most innocent expression before Steve chuckled and shook his head, "Try not to do anything too wild while I'm gone. And remember, the event--"

"The event is being streamed, so we can always check up on you through that. If we need you, all we have to do is text, and you'll ditch that crowd for us in a second," Bucky supplied.

Steve kissed both of them before he nodded, "I will. I really will. Just say the word."

"You have to actually go to an event first before you can leave in the middle of it," Vivian reminded him, gently nudging him. "But yes, we do know how dramatic you are. It's actually one of the many, many, _many_ things we love about you." Steve's expression softened and he kissed her again. He opened his mouth to say something, but she laughed, "Yes, we love everything about you. Now go. Have fun. We'll be okay for a few hours. There's so many movies, shows, podcasts--"

"You promised you wouldn't listen to our shows without me," Steve interrupted, gaping.

Bucky chuckled, "We won't. We only listen to those together."

Steve nodded, gave each of them one last kiss before he left the apartment. He waved on his way out and Vivian blushed as Bucky cupped her face in his hand. He stroked her cheek as he quietly asked, "Do you wanna go curl up out here and watch some garbage?"

"Yeah, but we are stuck with basically only things that either Steve has seen already or things he doesn't want to watch." Bucky looked hesitant and she arched an eyebrow before she scoffed, "What?"

"We _could_ watch the stream of the event."

Vivian winced and shook her head, "I support Steve and the whole exhibit is great, but…"

"But what?"

"But I'm not really interested in reliving how the best things I ever did were be heroic support and then die."

" _Viv_. Where the fuck is this coming from?"

Vivian shrugged, "I don't know. Just lately, the more I try, the more we talk to lawyers about our cases, the more I feel like _Nurse Vivian Peshkova_ is some weird older sister or something that I have to live up to."

"You still are her, and you never stopped doing impressive things."

"Maybe," Vivian shrugged, picking at the fabric of Bucky's shirt. "There's another reason I'm worried about this event though."

"What's that?"

"Steve's been stuck with us for months and has done very little actual fighting of Hydra. Before it was only really stuff that Tony or Natasha brought to him and they rarely brought things to him because they also wanted him to take time to just _relax_."

"You think they suddenly don't want that?"

Vivian shook her head, "No, I don't think that, but I think that Agents of SHIELD will definitely not understand or put it together that Steve could just…stop being Captain America. I don't think it ever would occur to them. And they're out there busting their asses. If they mention that to Steve, which they absolutely will, and combine that with the stories of how everyone loves that he stepped up to save the country and how his mission was to take out Hydra then--"

"Then he's going to go fight, and that means we're going to have to go fight," Bucky sighed.

Vivian shook her head, "You don't have to fight, Buck, I just--"

Bucky stilled her hands, holding them in his as he stared into her eyes. The stare made her feel like he could see every inch of her as he whispered, "You think I'm gonna let the two of you run into battle while I just…what? Just sit around and watch shows and movies waiting for you to come back? _You think for one second that I could do that_?"

"We also have books," Vivian joked weakly. "Sometimes Clint has to stay behind because he's a disaster. He's probably fun to spend time with. According to Steve he's also a good lay, so that would probably be a fun experience. Afterward, you and Steve can compare notes."

" _Viv_."

Vivian sighed and slumped on the couch as she said, " _You know_ I have a debt to repay."

" _And I don't_?" Bucky scoffed, the sound so bitter she could almost taste it.

" _No_ , _you actually don't_ , because none of those things were your choice. You were _forced_ to do those things and--"

" _Do you think for a goddamn second that if our positions were reversed that I wouldn't have done every single goddamn move you'd done_?" Bucky snapped. Vivian opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it as Bucky shook his head. He gently pulled her closer by her hands and pressed his forehead to her temple as he whispered in her ear, making her shiver, "Because I would, Viv. I would have done it in a heartbeat. And hell, you don't wanna see this as me trying to repay a debt? Fine, but I'm not gonna just sit back and watch you goddamn martyr yourself again for everyone around you like your life doesn't matter."

"In my defense, the X-Men did talk to me about that behavior and I haven't really done that since they talked to me about it, and no, healing Rogue doesn't count, because she was literally dying. And the only people who can safely do that trick with her are myself, my dad, and apparently some merc with a mouth, but my dad wasn't going to get there in time, and I've never met the other guy."

" _Merc with a mouth_?" Bucky asked, brows furrowing as he pulled back slightly.

Vivian shrugged, "All I know about him is that's what my dad called him. Well that and 'obnoxious horny piece of shit', so apparently the time they met was _interesting_ to say the least."

Vivian smiled as she was pulled back against Bucky's chest as he pressed a kiss to her cheek and whispered, "You took care of me for _so long_. Let me take care of you."

"This is all assuming Steve won't lose his mind and try to badger me into staying behind."

"Hmm, might help him instead."

Elbowing Bucky and rolling her eyes when he grunted, Vivian turned and straddled his lap before laughing, "If he did that, it'd be incredibly hypocritical of him."

"Or maybe just a sign of his maturing," Bucky joked. He then sighed, "But no, neither of us are going to make you do anything. You're an adult and you can make your own choices, but we can still worry."

"I think the three of us are always going to worry about each other," Vivian sighed. She then scrunched up her nose and admitted, "I miss that stupid tower. Living there is weird, but that floor is…it's home now in a very weird way. And besides, I worry about all of us less when we're there. I might not trust Tony in every situation, but I at least trust him to be deeply paranoid about the security of his tower."

Bucky's hand gently rubbed her back as he confessed, "I feel that way too. I didn't think I would at first, but it's one of the safest places for us to live right now."

"And it's actually really nice and tastefully decorated. I give all the credit for the latter to Pepper though."

Bucky snorted, but didn't argue, and Vivian shoved him back onto the couch before laying down on top of him. He immediately chuckled and ran his fingers through her hair while teasing, "Decided I'm the best bed?"

Vivian shushed him, "Yes. Now shhhh, beds don't talk."

Bucky snorted, but didn't say anything, just ran his fingers through her hair. Vivian breathed deeply and slowly fell asleep. She hadn't actually been up for long, but there was something about being held in those arms, even the metal one, that just felt… _nice_. The soft sound of a TV at one point started to wake her up, but then she just curled up and Bucky hummed under his breath. It didn't take long after that for her to drift off again.

She dreamed of hallways and forgotten meetings, but the details slipped from her like water through fingers. The only thing that lingered was the distinct feeling that she'd forgotten something urgent leaving her with a desire to _move_ as she woke up.

"Why does it always have to be _you_? Huh? Why does it gotta be you _every single goddamn time_?"

Vivian woke to Bucky's desperate shout. She'd been left on the couch with a blanket on her. Shoving it off and getting up, she headed into the kitchen where Steve and Bucky were having a standoff with the table between them. Steve was, unfortunately, no longer in his uniform, but he was in jeans and a t-shirt that some would say were too tight on him. She disagreed. Bucky was still in the same sweatpants and t-shirt he'd been wearing before, but now he did have the addition of hickeys along his throat. She was at least glad they'd managed to make out a bit before squaring up for a fight.

"I'm guessing Stark is still soaking up the attention at the Smithsonian?"

Both Steve and Bucky looked startled by her entrance and that immediately faded into apologetic expressions as Steve sighed, "Viv, I'm sorry. We didn't mean to wake you up. But yeah, Stark's still at the event."

"Oh good, so we don't have to deal with his snarky input into this conversation. Now what exactly are you two shouting at each other over?"

The two stared at each other and Vivian sighed, "C'mon, just tell me. Or do I have to just stand here and guess? I do have an extremely strong guess ready, but I want you two to just talk to me."

"You were right," Bucky said. "Steve's planning on going back out there, fighting Hydra again." Before Vivian could point out that they'd already accepted all of that, Bucky snapped, "And he says we're not joining him."

Vivian rolled her eyes and got herself a glass of ice water. Once she was back at the table, she took a long sip before she said, "Okay."

"Okay?" Bucky hissed. "That's all you have to say?"

"Viv understands why it has to be me," Steve said, looking exhausted.

"Eh, I know why _you think_ it has to be you. And I know that _you think_ you can keep us from joining you." She then glared, "And I think you're wrong. Oh and just to clarify, is this you saying you'll take away my freedom and my autonomy so that I can't choose what I do with my life? Because I could have sworn you weren't going to do that."

Bucky winced and Steve paled, whispering, " _No_. That's not-- _I would never_ \--I _could never_ \--"

Vivian sighed and set down her water on the table before she interrupted his frantic stammering, "None of us are happy about Hydra still existing. _We all want them gone_. We all want to protect the world from that."

"That doesn't mean you two have to keep fighting," Steve whispered, his voice strained.

"Neither do you, so are you going to sit this fight out?"

"You know I'm not."

"Great, then you know the answer about us."

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose before he sighed, "Viv, last time you fought, you had a seizure."

Vivian rolled her eyes, "That doesn't count. I was fine up until that part of the fight and it's not like we'd be taking Rogue with us anyway so it'll be a long time before that happens again."

"Shouldn't you be trying to say it's not going to happen again at all?" Bucky whispered.

Vivian shrugged, "I honestly don’t know if I can say that. It's wild that I was in that position at all. Apparently my dad did do the exact same thing over a decade ago. Twice. Once because he accidentally stabbed Rogue during a nightmare, so really that was his fault and he owed her one. The second time happened because of her getting kidnapped."

She frowned and scrunched up her nose before she shrugged, "Something about a weird metal machine and how her heart stopped? I think? Or something like that? I don't know. All I know is that it's apparently a family tradition to have our life force sucked out by that woman. I do get free gumbo for life from her boyfriend Remy thanks to that incident though so I personally think it was worth it on multiple levels."

Both stared at her, so she sighed and rubbed her hands over her face before she said, "Listen, I just woke up and I really don't feel like arguing about this, but if you're going out there, Steve, then I'm going out there too, and if we're going out there then Bucky probably is going to come along as well. So the options are that we all fight side by side, we go into battle regardless and you just don't know where we are during it, or none of us fight, because I know you'd never take our choice away from us."

For a moment they just stood at the table together and she could hear the wheels turning in Steve's head. She could hear him desperately trying to think through all the options. He gripped the chair in front of him tightly. He opened his mouth only to close it tightly and squeeze his eyes shut. It took another couple minutes before he choked out, "I can't promise I won't be overprotective of you two in the field."

"Neither can we," Bucky said.

"Bucky can keep people off our tail as a sniper and then the two of us can handle the ground together," Vivian pointed out.

"You two are the ones who are gonna have to promise not to do any self-sacrificing bullshit out there. If one of us gets into trouble, we call for help either from someone else in our trio or from the rest of the Avengers. Got it?" Bucky snapped, looking between the two of them.

"Sounds like a plan," Vivian said with a grin. Steve sighed and nodded. Before he could say anything though, she motioned him close and grinned, "Now that that's settled, get over here and greet me properly. I missed you and I'm betting you didn't greet Bucky with a fight considering he has hickeys."

Vivian heard Bucky snort, but didn't have time to look over at him before Steve was over and picking her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and ran her fingers through his hair. The kiss was edging toward desperate, but she giggled as he carried her straight back toward the bedroom. She blindly reached out as they were going and smiled into the kiss as Bucky took her hand. Luckily right then, Steve switched to her neck, seeming determined to give her hickeys that matched the ones on Bucky's neck.

They were just outside their room when Steve pressed her against the wall, sliding a hand into her sweatpants. He'd started to rub her clit, drawing a moan out of her when Bucky gently pulled her over by her hair and kissed her hard on the lips, swallowing her moan. She rocked against Steve's hand, gasping and shuddering into the kiss before she came with a whimpering gasp.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, take that to your soundproof bedroom!"

Vivian burst into laughter as Bucky pulled away from the kiss. Bucky just smirked over at Stark, but Steve was looking at her. He was smiling in between licking his fingers clean.

"Stark's right, the things I plan to do to the two of you definitely require that bedroom," Steve sighed. Vivian couldn't help but giggle as Tony squawked indignantly as they headed into their room and shut the door behind them. It was a good thing they still had most of a day and an entire night left in the room, because she had a feeling Steve's plans were going to take most of that time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: this took two weeks because I wrote a couple thousand words of a completely different chapter, hated every single bit of it, scrapped it, and then wrote this. Initially the chapter was supposed to be Steve at the event, but then I couldn't actually figure out what all would go into an event like that and there were so many people involved that it just became a lot of disconnected dialogue. I really hated it. Like truly, deeply hated it, so it's not even really, at this point, eligible as a bonus chapter thing. Although so far those have not been requested at all, so that's at least something. lmao
> 
> Oh and there is a really weird random reference in this chapter, but when Vivian talks about how Nurse Vivian Peshkova is like a weird big sister she has to live up to, that is a kind of reference to a thing Mara Wilson said. She mentioned once in an interview how growing up, Matilda felt like a cooler, older sister that she had to live up to and I thought it was just a really fascinating thing.
> 
> Anyway, I hope my instincts were right and that y'all like this chapter. I also hope that y'all are taking care of yourselves in this (continuing) pandemic.


	7. Seven: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: descriptions of sensitivities to noise, killing people, blood, spoilers for AOS (kind of), I make fun of Benedict Cumberbatch/Sherlock, and mentions of someone losing a limb
> 
> There are technically spoilers for season 2 of Agents of SHIELD up through season 2 episode 10, but I also ignore one of the events of episode 10 because I fucking hate it, so it doesn't happen in my fic.
> 
> Oh and yeah, I make fun of Benedict Cumberbatch and I say BBC's Sherlock is a bad show. I don't actually care if y'all like them, y'all are free to, but I think he's gross and the show is bad. [This video explains why I don't like Sherlock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkoGBOs5ecM). If I get comments asking me why I don't like Sherlock, I will just link you to this video again.
> 
> Although if I missed any warnings, please let me know so that I can add the warning here. Also if you just want something tagged on this story, also let me know that.
> 
> Originally posted as chapter 48 on August 30th, 2020. Reposted on October 3rd, 2020.

**"Attention: this is an emergency. Please exit through the nearest emergency exit as soon as possible. This is not a drill."**

Steve winced and shook his head, coughing while he stayed pressed against the wall. Normally he'd be worried about being noticed, but between the flashing lights, the smoke, and the combination of shrieking alarm and announcement, no one would notice him at all. The alarm wasn't entirely surprising. They'd been warned by Tony, who had done a quick look at the security system for them, that the security itself was pretty temperamental.

" _It's got a hair trigger so bad that I don't even know how it functions. Just absolutely a hideous mess. Try not to set it off, because some idiot, probably the same one who designed it, also put it at 'pierce your eardrums levels of loud'."_

They'd all taken that threat to heart and they'd done a soft entry. They'd made sure none of the alarms had been tripped. Clint and Bucky had been left to guard the entrances as they'd gone in, waiting for a sign to come in. Steve himself had gone in with Vivian while Natasha and Sam had gone through to a different section of the building.

Or at least that had been the formation until AIM had decided to use _grenades_ to get through a goddamn wall and had triggered _every alarm in the building_. One of the grenades had been a smoke grenade and as he'd ducked into a side hall to catch his breath, it'd only been then that he'd realized he'd lost Viv somewhere in all that commotion.

To make matters worse, there seemed to be interference with their coms, and that meant he couldn't even try to get in touch with anyone on his team. It'd taken him a couple of minutes to catch his breath and to calm himself down. Less than fifteen minutes into a goddamn job and he'd already lost Viv. He'd promised her that he would take care of her and they hadn't even reached their destination.

Shaking his head again, Steve counted back from ten before he thought back to the map of the interior that he'd memorized. The doors had numbers on them and he glanced around him. He knew _where_ he was on that map, and so he headed deeper. Everything in him wanted to head back into the smoke and look for Vivian, but he knew that her first instinct would be to head toward the target in the hopes of meeting up with him there. And besides, now that there were other players involved, they needed to get to that data _fast_.

Steve tightened his grip on his shield before he began moving quickly down the hall. He was moving faster than he normally would for a mission like this, but if anyone could hear him over that emergency alert then they deserved to find him. The sound was still so goddamn loud and it didn't seem to be stopping or slowing down. It was, in fact, the first time he ever thought Tony had actually undersold something. For a moment he wondered if anything in the world was louder than that, but he got his answer as the cracks of gunshots had him pressing himself against a wall and frantically glancing toward the source of the noise.

Five agents crumpled to the ground and he stared in confused horror. They'd been facing him. They'd been aiming at him. Two had been shot in the forehead and three in the neck. He watched the blood pool on the floor. The ones that had been hit in the head were just _gone_ , but the others gasped and choked before they finally went still.

"Steve, I need you to take deep breaths and then I need you to look at me."

Steve took a deep breath through his nose and felt his stomach churn as he smelled blood and smoke. The alarm still raged throughout the building, making it hard to concentrate. He was able to exhale shakily though before he looked forward and saw Vivian staring at him with a worried expression on her face. It took less than a second after that before he had her wrapped in his arms. He pressed his face into her neck, lifting her off the ground as she laughed, "Yeah, it's okay. I'm okay, but we need to keep going. All right?"

It took another couple of deep breaths, breathing her in before he gently set her down. He took the front and was unsurprised when Vivian kept her back to him, moving backward as she said, "Don't you think for a second I'm not gonna absolutely kick your ass once we're out of here for the reckless shit you just pulled."

"I had it under control."

"Really? Okay, then I guess we're dealing with this here," Vivian said. He didn't have to be looking at her to know she rolled her eyes. "You weren't even looking at them, Steve. Your shield wasn't up. They were going to shoot you, and unlike Bucky, they weren't going to avoid the kill shot. They were going to kill you."

Steve winced at the way Vivian's voice trembled, and he was grateful once they reached the door. It was locked with a keypad and there didn't seem to be a handle. Before he could focus on it for too long, Vivian slid in front of him and said, "I'll focus on this, you watch the hall."

"Understood," Steve said, doing as he was told. It was only then that the alarm went off and he winced. The silence felt loud, almost oppressive, and his ears were still ringing. He worked his jaw as best he could to try and make it better. Clearing his throat, he asked, accidentally still shouting at first before he lowered his volume, "Did you turn that off?"

"Not unless breaking into this room also turns off any alarms, and that would be really weird if it did. No, my best guess is that Nat just got through the doors to the security room. That'll be helpful. She'll be able to figure out where the interference is coming from in there."

They both slipped into the room and Steve redid the locks on the door before he glanced around. Despite getting much further into his knowledge of technology than Tony thought he had, Steve still wasn't entirely sure how to handle a server room. Vivian seemed to and pulled out a monitor and a keyboard from one of the sections, plugging something into the computer as she said, "Your hearing should be returning to normal soon, if mine is anything to go by."

Steve nodded and noticed that she was right. The ringing in his ears was getting better. It wasn't entirely gone, but it wasn't what it was in the hallway. He slipped his shield back onto his back and watched Vivian. She was so focused on the task at hand that he blushed when she said, without looking at him, "I can hear your mind working at a million miles a second, Steve, so just say what you have to say or ask what you have to ask."

"Just didn't realize you were this good with tech."

Vivian grinned and glanced over at him, "I'm not, actually. I know just enough to be deeply annoying. Natasha always was bigger into tech than I was. This program's the work of her and Tony, although Tony doesn't know she modified his work. Actually, I'm pretty sure he's still under the impression that she can't hack which is hilarious, because that means he doesn't know who's been changing his desktop and his home screen for the past month."

"Nat's been doing that?" Steve gaped.

Vivian grinned, "Of course. All of the desktops have been movies and shows that Tony just kind of hates. Nothing that he has good reason to hate, mind you. Just stuff he's decided he hates. Although some of them are just bad shows and movies, so it's not like I disagree with Tony about them."

"Oh?" Steve asked, moving away from the door and closer to Viv. "Anything in particular?"

Vivian tilted her head, pausing in her typing as she admitted, "Uh, basically anything with that piece of shit Benedict Cumberbatch in it. Sherlock is just a bad show though, so don't put it on your list, or if you do, I'm not watching it with you. Also, Benedict's roles tend to be obnoxious pieces of shit who are way too up their own asses, so I like to tease him about how he _should_ like 'em since they have so much in common."

" _Viv_."

"Yeah, yeah, Stark's getting better. Also, Stark has never been a piece of shit about autism as far as I know, so points to Tony on that."

Steve smirked and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close as he whispered into her ear, "That was almost a compliment."

"Only if your bar is _extremely low_ ," Viv whispered back. He watched as the transfer then began on screen.

"So now that it's started, do you have to watch it or anything?"

"Nope. Tasha designed it so that it will do everything it needs to on its own." She then turned around in his arms and gently nudged him back while teasing, "And now we need to figure out a way to get in touch with the rest of our team before Bucky rips this place apart coming for us."

"You'd enjoy that. Admit it," Steve teased, gently tucking her hair behind her ear.

Vivian rolled her eyes and laughed, "Never denied it. Besides, you like it too."

"Almost as much as I like seeing you do it."

"Good answer."

Steve chuckled and pressed another kiss to Viv's lips before pressing his forehead to hers. For a moment they stood there, but then he chuckled as she whispered, "I'm still going to kick your ass for that hallway stunt."

"Bucky will help you."

"Eh, I might have to enlist someone else depending on how this evening goes."

Steve watched as she went and checked on the computer. Before he could ask why she looked concerned, there was a banging sound on the door. Pulling his shield off his back, he nodded to the computer, "How much time do you need?"

"Fifteen minutes, at least. It's a lot of data we're stealing."

Steve nodded and breathed deeply before he moved to the side of the door. Reaching over, he carefully unlocked it and then swung it open, bringing the shield back to hit the person on the other side only to pause mid swing as he saw the flash of a metal arm. "Jesus, Buck, I almost knocked you clear down the hall," Steve hissed, tugging Bucky into the room. He glanced back into the hall and was impressed by the new bodies scattered around the hall.

Bucky rolled his eyes and scoffed, "I love the confidence, sweetheart, but not a chance."

"AIM give you too much trouble?" Steve asked, looking Bucky over.

Bucky shook his head, "Nah. They're a pain in the ass when they're a group like that, but otherwise their tech isn't nearly as good as Stark's is, and they rely too heavily on it to learn a damn thing when they fight."

"You were supposed to wait by the door," Steve reminded Bucky.

Bucky scoffed, "Damn place was already infiltrated by another group and you think I'm just gonna leave you guys out here?"

"Yes, because that was the plan," Steve reminded him.

"Oh, so what you're saying is that following direct orders is something someone should do even if their boyfriend and girlfriend are behind enemy lines?"

Steve winced, "Okay, fair point. You're right. I'm sorry."

"Have you two been okay? No injuries?"

Steve opened his mouth to reply, but then winced as Vivian announced, "Nothing other than a headache, although the way Steve didn't watch his damn back in the hallway meant he almost got shot again."

Bucky glared and Steve held up his hands, "I didn't almost get shot. The bullets never came near me."

"Only because I'm a mutant who learned how to redirect bullets, otherwise every single one of them was going to hit you."

Steve sent Vivian a stare and had to try very hard not to smile when she blew him a kiss.

"You fucking know better than to do shit like that, Steve," Bucky sighed.

Steve honestly didn't know why he'd done something that stupid. He wanted to blame it on the alarm and how desperate he was to get to where Viv was, but neither of those explanations would be good. Thankfully he didn't have to give any explanation whatsoever as at that moment, his earpiece came back on with a sharp beep. He winced, but he could see Bucky and Viv do the exact same thing.

"What's the status on the file transfer?"

"Nearly done, Tasha. Just got a few more minutes. You get everything covered in the security room?" Vivian said, leaning against one of the server towers.

"Despite AIM's best efforts, everything went pretty smoothly."

"Are Clint and Sam all right?" Steve asked, frowning.

Natasha snorted, "More than all right. They're busy taking out the rest of the AIM agents. Next person who shows up will be able to just walk right through if they have our permission."

"Nat," Steve warned.

"Don't worry. Maria's swinging by with a team after we leave and is mopping up whatever's left of the intel. She's also bringing some officials with her to handle the people Vivian didn't straight up murder."

"In my defense, they were trying to shoot Steve in the back, so it was self-defense," Vivian said. "Anyway, your drive just finished uploading. Do I need to do anything before I take this file out or did your program take care of whatever backdoor into the system that you need?"

"I got it," Natasha said. "All the three of you need to do is get out of there."

"Understood," Steve said. He nodded as Vivian ejected the drive and slipped it into her uniform. Once that was secure, the three of them headed out of the room. Bodies still littered the place and as they walked past the people that Vivian had _technically_ shot, Steve glanced at her. Her expression looked conflicted, at best.

"You didn't do anything wrong. Natasha knows that too, she was just messing with you," Steve whispered. She nodded and gave him a sideways glance, but didn't say anything.

"He's right," Bucky said as he moved between them. He peered around the corner before he motioned them forward.

"I know," Vivian sighed. "And I would do it again in a heartbeat, but…I don't know. I just have a lot on my mind."

Steve smiled when Bucky leaned over and gently kissed Vivian. Bucky then winked at him and Steve chuckled, watching as Bucky took the lead going through the hall. Gently nudging Vivian, he whispered, "Whatever's bugging you, we'll be able to get your mind off of it when we're on the plane."

Vivian rolled her eyes, but the three continued forward. They sped up as they heard a few gunshots, but Steve could only sigh with relief as he heard a yelp of pain that wasn't Bucky's. When they caught up with Bucky, they saw him twisting an agent's arm behind his back before slamming him against the wall and cuffing him.

"You two took your time."

"Maybe I just like to watch you work," Vivian said, keeping her eyes wide and innocent.

Steve chuckled as Bucky rolled his eyes and then kissed Vivian before teasing, "I bet you do." Steve couldn't keep his smile off his face as Bucky chuckled, "What about you, handsome? You got an excuse?"

"Nah, got the same problem as her. Not our fault you look good," Steve teased, earning himself a kiss as well.

"Hey, horny teenagers, get your shit together and c'mon. It's time to go," Sam said, rolling his eyes as he walked past them.

Steve did a very mild speed walk to get by Sam's side as he asked, "We're not _that_ bad, are we?"

Sam sent him a pointed stare and Steve blushed when Sam chuckled, "Hell yeah, you are. Even if Stark hadn't complained to everyone who'd sit still long enough about how he had to throw out all the bedding in DC 'cause y'all went at it like a bunch of rabbits on Viagra, the three of you usually don't go more than a couple minutes without making eyes at each other or touching each other or both."

"It's _not that_ often."

Being unconscious doesn't count."

Steve rolled his eyes and grumbled, "We spent a few hours apart when I went to that Smithsonian event."

"That was nearly three weeks ago. Is that the most recent time you remember being apart from them?"

Steve frowned, "We like to spend time with each other. I didn't think it was a crime. Besides--" Steve paused and glanced back to where Bucky and Vivian were whispering to each other with small grins on their faces. He couldn't help smiling as he sighed, "I spent enough time without them."

"But don't y'all need your own space soon?"

Steve arched an eyebrow at Sam while teasing, "You talk to your mystery girlfriend like that?"

Sam rolled his eyes, "I like spending time with my girlfriend just fine, but we have our own shit going on too. We're not each other's entire goddamn world. We have our own careers. We have our own hobbies. I see her damn near every day when we're both in town, but that doesn't mean we're constantly together. Wasn't that way with me and Riley either, before you ask."

"We have hobbies, Sam," Steve sighed. "We just happen to do our separate hobbies _together_. I'll paint while Vivian practices languages. Lately Bucky's been playing video games so that he can kick Clint's ass."

"Well that's something, at least."

Steve shrugged, "If any one of us wanted some alone time, we'd get it, but we _like_ being near each other. Even if we're not talking or touching, I like being able to see them. Also, just so you know, Viv hangs out with the X-Men pretty regularly. Usually over lunch."

"She goes to lunch with the X-Men?" Sam whispered incredulously, glancing over his shoulder at Vivian.

Steve nodded and chuckled, "Apparently a lot of the X-Men can cook. Gambit makes gumbo, Storm makes amazing samosas and coconut rice, things like that. Viv brings us leftovers and tries to invite us, but the X-Men prefer their dinners to be mutants only. And I understand that. They haven't exactly had the easiest time with people, even enhanced people, so they tend to play it safe, especially since the dinners take place in the school."

"That makes sense," Sam said, shrugging.

"You and your girlfriend have dinner dates where you cook for each other?" Steve asked slyly.

Sam rolled his eyes, "You're not slick, you know, but yeah. I cook for her."

Steve was about to tease some more, but then chuckled as Clint fell out of a vent. Steve quickly caught the man in his arms and rolled his eyes as Clint grinned, "Damn, okay so maybe damsels in distress do know what's up. This is great."

"I'd say you should have dropped him on his head, but I don't know if we'd be able to tell the difference afterward, so probably don't just to be on the safe side," Sam teased.

Clint didn't react and Steve chuckled as he set Clint down and signed while he said, "Are your hearing aids still off?"

" _Fuck_ ," Clint hissed, searching his pockets before he sighed and signed, his head hanging low, "I lost them. Again. Nat's gonna kill me."

Steve rubbed Clint's back, but then grinned as Nat strolled up and placed the hearing aids into Clint's hand before getting him to look at him as she laughed while signing, "I made you hand them to me for this exact reason."

Clint shrugged and slipped his hearing aids into his pocket before racing out of the building and onto the quinjet. Natasha rolled her eyes and followed, a soft smile on her face. As they followed, Steve saw Maria taking some agents into the building. Viv was flipping through her phone as soon as she sat down and Steve grinned as Bucky winked at him before sitting down.

The rest of the flight home was pretty quiet with Natasha and Clint flying, Sam napping, Bucky reading, and Viv glancing at her phone. They'd left the plane when Steve realized Vivian was quieter than usual. He gently grabbed her arm, but then was shocked when she just shook her head. Steve glanced over at Bucky, but he just shrugged and whispered, "She'll tell us soon, you know that. Sometimes she just needs space first."

That silence lingered though once they got back to the tower with Vivian immediately getting on her laptop and looking up something. Steve tried to stay busy, drawing Bucky as he lounged while reading. Finally though, after a couple of hours, Vivian glanced up from her laptop and announced, "SHIELD and Hydra clashed in Puerto Rico."

"Shit. Is everyone okay?" Bucky asked, sitting up and frowning.

Vivian shook her head, "Simmons hasn't told me everything that happened, but apparently a bunch of them got hurt. Skye got affected by something…they're not sure what all it did to her, and Trip…Trip got hit by the same stuff. Except the stuff that didn't seem to do any lasting damage to Skye nearly killed him. Some shards hit his arm and uh, he had to cut it off himself before it spread. Nearly bled out there."

"Why'd she text you about it?" Bucky asked.

"She probably just wanted Viv to know what happened," Steve hissed with a frown.

Bucky shook his head and stood up, "No, it's more than that. Viv, what'd she want to know?"

"She wanted to know if I had any idea of what the artifact does."

"And?"

"And there are a lot of legends around the artifact they messed with, but I don't know for certain. The only things I definitely know about it are that it was deemed far too dangerous for anyone to even experiment with it by Director Carter herself--"

" _Peggy_ was involved?" Steve gaped, but then blushed and whispered, "Sorry, I won't interrupt again."

Vivian rolled her eyes, "Carter hid it and a sadistic son of a bitch named Reinhardt desperately wanted it. The guy had a full on Mengele complex and wanted it for awful reasons. Rumor around Hydra was that he even got to use it a few times before it was taken from him. After that he went back to old school butchery. I was forced to see him work a few times, and I want to make this absolutely clear: he knew what he was doing and he enjoyed it."

"But what did he think it was going to do?" Bucky asked, leaning forward.

Vivian shrugged, "He knew some people could handle it and others couldn't. The legends are all over the place for this thing. Some people just called it a death totem. Others said that it weeded out chosen ones. Others said it was just a weird rock that people killed each other over in a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, kind of a weirder version of the hope diamond."

"What do the chosen ones get?" Steve asked curiously.

"Other than their lives? Some say they get powers. Some people think it's a weird way to explain why mutants exist, but others say it's another group. Which I honestly don't know about that. Charles mentioned to me that there are people similar to mutants but aren't mutants. Some of them call themselves Inhumans. Charles said he's pretty sure they don't get their powers the same way mutants do, but as for how they get them or what goes on with that, we don't know much at all about it considering they don't trust mutants."

"That's weird. How come?" Steve asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"No idea," Vivian sighed. "Even Charles didn't know that one. He would say he doesn't think they're as common as mutants are, and that any time he thought he even stumbled across one, someone would show up and take them somewhere else, claim the X-Men weren't qualified to help an Inhuman. We don't even know where the fuck the group spends time. Charles could probably dig for them using Cerebro, but as far as we know they haven't done anything wrong. Plus, it's kind of a massive invasion of privacy that Charles doesn't like to do unless necessary at this point."

"What do you think it is?" Steve asked quietly, sitting next to Viv.

Viv stared at her phone for a moment before she sighed, "I honestly don't even have a guess, but I do know that if somehow Skye got powers from this thing then it's gonna be rough for her. No matter what, people can't control their powers when they first develop them, and that can create some…major issues when it comes to most people. People freak out, so I just hope Coulson's team is as good as we think they are. Although right now their bigger concern is Trip. I passed along his file to Stark. He might be able to create something similar to what Bucky's got, but otherwise he'll be out of the field for a while as he rehabilitates. He's lucky he didn't die. The rot that Simmons described would have just killed him if it'd hit his chest or his head instead of his arm."

Steve winced, but then sighed as he saw the expression on Vivian's face. Pulling her close, he kissed her temple as he reassured her, "Hey, c'mon, he's going to be okay."

"Yeah, I know, but…"

"But what?" Bucky asked.

"I was requested to join them on that mission in Puerto Rico. I turned them down because we already had this scheduled."

"You think you could have stopped Trip from losing his arm," Steve said, eyeing Vivian carefully

Vivian shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe? All I know is they requested backup and I said no. A few other members of their team got weird injuries, but nothing like Trip. Still…I just…"

Steve pulled Vivian into his lap and sighed. He understood that feeling a lot. A look into Bucky's eyes told him that he did as well. Bucky soon joined them on the couch and Steve smiled as Bucky wrapped them both in his arms. Relaxing into that grip, he gently squeezed Vivian's side as he quietly reminded them both, "C'mon. Remember what Sam says?"

"We can only do what we can do," the three of them recited before sighing.

"He's not wrong," Bucky said. "And I barely know Trip, but I'm damn sure he's not gonna blame you, Viv. After all, do you blame us? We turned down that same mission."

Vivian scrunched her nose, "That's cheating."

"No, this is cheating," Steve murmured and then kissed Vivian. She giggled into the kiss and he grinned, rubbing her back. Vivian clung to him and he could tell she was still thinking about everything that had happened, still worried about it all. Hell, probably even still blaming herself. He couldn't have that. Cupping her face in his hands, he stroked her cheek with his thumb as he whispered, "What happened to Trip wasn't your fault. We weren't told where the mission was going to be or what was going to happen, so there was no way any of us could have known it would be that dangerous."

"He's right," Bucky murmured. "Besides, you saved Steve's life today. What would have happened if you hadn't been there?"

Vivian winced and sighed, "Okay, fair, but I still…I still want to check up on Trip."

"And we will," Steve stressed. "But for now, he's probably still being worked on and still in the heaviest part of his recovery. For tonight we'll just relax, watch something on tv and we'll call in the morning. Maybe by then Tony will have an offer to make and we can even give him some good news."

Vivian nodded, "You're right." She sighed, "But if we're going to be just sitting here, I get to pick the movie."

Bucky chuckled and kissed her lips while teasing, "As you wish."

"Sap," Vivian mumbled. She then grinned and laughed, "Just for that, we're watching Princess Bride."

"Oh no, what a hardship," Steve joked, feeling the tension in his chest loosen as Vivian rolled her eyes, pinched his side and then kissed his cheek. He was pretty sure the smiles that movie brought out of her were brighter than the sun. And maybe, just maybe, he looked at that more than the movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler: Trip dies in Agents of SHIELD, but I ignored it. It's been over 5 years and I'm still wicked mad about it. It was super unnecessary and they could have had very similar angst by just having him get heavily injured.
> 
> I don't feel comfortable dedicating this chapter to Chadwick Boseman seeing how his character isn't even slightly referenced in this and it's not related to him whatsoever, but I really do hope all of you are taking care of yourselves right now. I think we're all in shock and grieving over that loss, but none so much as his friends and family. He was a good man. He was and is so very loved and I just want you all to remember that. Remember that and plelase don't post things on social media asking about Black Panther 2 or future Avengers movies or anything like that when you talk about your grief. It's honestly, at best, tone deaf to bring it up when the trauma is still this raw.


	8. Eight: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: violence, mentions of killing, more violence, and blood
> 
> I took _some_ of the opening battle from Age of Ultron. Some other parts will be used from that movie going forward, but a lot's going to not be used. For example, I'm not using either of the faces from the movie. These characters are going to be closer to the comics. First of all, Wanda and Pietro will be Romani Jews who _absolutely did not volunteer to be part of Hydra_.
> 
> Also, apologies for how late this is today. Some stuff was going on this morning and I lost track of time.
> 
> Originally posted as chapter 48 on September 13th. Reposted on October 3rd.

_Dangerous influences_.

"Fuck," Vivian hissed, swerving away from an explosion as she gripped the handlebars tighter. It was a bike designed by Stark though, so it was able to go through the woods and handle that kind of precision without spinning out. Glaring over at one of the Hydra agents gaining on her, Vivian blew a kiss before pulling a tree in his path. His bike hit it, sending him flying into another tree. She couldn't hear what happened to his body as he crumpled to the ground, but she could imagine the sound of those bones breaking.

"Vivian, are you okay?" Steve sounded frantic and Vivian took a few deep breaths. Apparently she took a few too many seconds, because Steve's voice grew a touch more frantic. " _Viv_?"

"I'm good. Just had a close call with an explosion."

" _Viv_ ," Steve hissed.

"I'm _fine_. Didn't even get singed," Vivian sighed. "I think I overshot the rest of you a half mile back. Should I double back?"

"Negative," Steve instructed. "Keep going. We need to get to that scepter."

"Understood," Vivian sighed. Speeding up, Vivian smirked as she slid past two Hydra agents on bikes. As she did, she made sure to screw with the wheel of one. A quick glance in her side mirror let her see one bike collide with another. Both the agents were dead by the time she reached the building.

The incline got steep, but she kept going, frowning as Steve asked, "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's base is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken."

"Strucker always was a goddamn show off," Vivian scoffed.

"Loki's scepter must be here," Thor added. "Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it. At long last."

"At long last is lasting a little long," Natasha quipped. "Will you be able to get through the energy shield, Viv?"

"Slipping past it won't be a problem, it'll be getting back out that'll be the problem," Vivian said, eyeing the amount of people guarding the entrance.

"Stark, can you take out the energy shield and give Viv cover?" Steve asked.

"Is that a serious question?" Stark scoffed, sounding offended.

"Yes or no, Tony."

"Steve, they've got this. Now focus on the goddamn battle. I've had to pick five of these idiots off 'cause they got too close," Bucky snapped.

"Three of those were mine, Barnes."

"I'm not counting yours, _Hawkguy_."

"It's _Hawkeye._ Hawkguy is a name for dipshits."

Vivian smirked and shook her head, but didn't comment. After all, her nickname was _Hecate_ so she really had no leg to stand on with that one. The castle loomed over her and she took a deep breath before she let go. Leaping off the bike, she let it slam into the nearest agent, crushing him between the wall and the bike. An agent on a balcony aimed at her only to crumple off. It was only after he hit the ground that she saw that he'd been shot in the forehead.

"Thanks, Buck," Vivian whispered.

Slamming the rest against the wall and knocking them out, Vivian closed her eyes, focusing as much as she could, although she could hear the enemy approaching on all sides. She pulled at the energy inside of herself, gathering it up like Jean taught her, and then slammed it into the barrier. A small opening formed and she ran through. The barrier seemed to heal itself after she was through and she grinned, flipping off the agents as they shot at her only for that barrier to protect her.

"I'm in," Vivian said, but then groaned as she realized the only thing she could hear was static. The goddamn energy field was stopping the earpiece from working. Pulling it out of her ear, she shoved it into her pocket and kept moving, staying as quiet as possible. She could hear agents marching. She almost engaged with them only to duck into an alcove when she saw that there were dozens of them marching out. They were all heavily armored, heavily armed, and she knew she couldn't take _all_ of them out on her own.

To make matters worse, she could hear tanks beginning to roll out. The fight was about to get much, much worse. And that meant she needed to get the scepter as soon as possible. That wasn't going to be easy without access to Jarvis or even Tony. The best she could hope for was to try and find it on her own until Tony got the actual energy field down.

Once the soldiers marched past, Vivian headed down where they'd come from. It wasn't her first time being in a secret lair inside of a castle, although usually Hydra kept her in more _modern_ buildings after they found out she was _extremely_ good at finding hand holds in brickwork. She'd done that back when she was a bored teenager, but it'd been prolific enough to set a standard for the rest of her captivity. Remembering that switch felt appropriate as the staircase she found led to a place that felt hundreds of years more modern than the upper floors. Her only guess was that this area got added during a renovation.

The walls were sleek and white with large glass windows. Shifting her view of them made her realize there was definitely some impressive wiring going through them. Most likely their own energy fields. The first few rooms had beds with restraints, monitoring equipment and a small toilet in the corner. A curtain was there to be pulled around it, but for the most part they looked like an unholy mashup of a cell and a hospital room. Vivian had seen rooms like that before. She'd _been_ in rooms like that before. Her breathing became shakier and she let her fingertips run along the paper on the outside.

> _Subject #47_
> 
> _Sex: Female_
> 
> _DOB: 5/17/95_
> 
> _Powers: pyrokinesis_
> 
> _Status: terminated_

Vivian felt bile rise up the back of her throat and she checked another cell. A boy. Hydrokinesis. Terminated. Another girl. Telekinesis. Terminated. Over and over again, there were these pristine, empty cells and there were papers about all the mutants who'd been killed. None of them had their actual names on the cell, just their sex, birthday, power, and fate. Not even a goddamn picture. Just dozens of mutants _murdered_ , and for what? What had Hydra been doing to them?

She almost gave up hope until she came to the last two cells of the hallway. A boy and a girl. They were unconscious and tied to their beds and appeared to be unconscious. Glancing down at the charts, Vivian frowned at the information. They seemed to be twins native to Sokovia. The boy seemed to just have 'superspeed' listed as his, but the girl's seemed to be continuously edited. Psionics, telepathy, _reality warping_? Vivian wasn't even sure what that last one even meant.

There was also a number of languages listed and a note that if they didn't respond to one of them, try another. German, Sokovian, Romani, Yiddish, Romanian, and English were all listed. The star of David was stamped on both sheets. Gritting her teeth, Vivian then glanced at the locks. They had, shockingly, a normal key lock and an electronic lock. Pulling the gadget out of her pocket, she attached that to the keypad while she went to work picking the regular lock.

She was going for the girl first and she couldn't really explain to herself why she was doing it. All she knew was that she had to get both of them out of there and she was starting with the girl. Once the door was unlocked, she pocketed the gear and went inside. She couldn’t hear any alarm, but she knew that didn't mean much. And that meant she needed to get out of there _before_ someone noticed.

When she reached the bed, she could only stare at the twins. She had thick, dark hair. The boy's hair was _white_ , not blond, but white. They both looked _so young_ and their information confirmed it. They were teenagers. Far too young for anything that had happened. Not that there was an age where it _would be okay_ , but this was worse, so much worse. Shaking her head, Vivian checked for restraints only to see that she was connected to an IV drip. There was no indication of what was being given to her, but before Vivian could even attempt to get her out, she felt a gun press to the back of her neck.

"Amazing, aren't they?"

"Fuck," Vivian whispered. She then sighed and turned around, glaring and rolling her eyes, "Oh. It's you. I wasn't aware Strucker allowed you to walk around without a leash on. Were you finally housebroken?

Zemo sneered, his eyes narrowing as he retorted, "A bit rich coming from Stark's newest lackey. It seems he is losing his taste."

"The saying is 'losing his touch', and one of the things Stark and I have in common is that neither of us give a shit about you. Now are you going to shoot me or are you going to continue being really bad at this whole villain thing?"

"Well, I have to shoot someone," Zemo shrugged. He then smirked, "And it will either be you or one of them. So, Peshkova, _pick_."

Vivian glared, "You wouldn't. All your other experiments were terminated, probably because they failed whatever you were trying to do. You won't get rid of the two that succeeded."

Zemo shrugged, "I only need one of them alive. They are both incredibly powerful. And once the other one wakes up, I'll just tell them that _you_ killed the sibling. Once they hear that, I won't even have to make them come after you and the ones you love."

Vivian clenched her hands by her side, her heart racing in her throat. These two were so young, so very young. Neither of them deserved to be hurt, let alone killed. Stepping toward the man, Vivian sighed and rolled her eyes while scoffing, "God, I'd actually rather be shot than to keep listening to you, and if you pick one of these kids, you're definitely going to keep talking so, please just put me out of my misery."

Zemo glared and for a moment it looked like he was going to aim toward the bed instead of her, so Vivian laughed, "Fuck, knew you couldn't do it. I'm standing right fucking here. God, it's 'cause you're shit, isn't it? Couldn't hit the broad side of a _goddamn stadium,_ let alone a fucking barn. Schmidt always did say hiring you was his biggest fucking regret, and that included--"

The noise was so loud, and the pain was so tremendous that for a moment everything just went dark. When her vision cleared, Vivian found herself pressed against the wall. Her hands were pressed against her stomach and her ears were ringing. Her wounds were huge and the blood just _flowed_. Slipping down the wall, everything felt like it was tilting as she choked out, "What the fuck is the gauge of that thing?"

Zemo just smirked and she watched as he unhooked the machines. He wasn't in any hurry as he attached the IV to the bed and then pushed it out of the cell. Hydra agents were waiting and they pushed them out through an exit she hadn't realized existed. Zemo crouched next to her and she glared as he gripped her chin. His nails dug into her skin. Glaring, she shouted, "This won't kill me."

Zemo laughed. She couldn't hear it, but she could see it and _feel it_. Worse, she could read his lips as he taunted, "No, you won't die, but it _will_ hurt Rogers and Barnes. After all, they're the ones that sent you in alone." He then stood up and walked off. Before he reached the door, he then turned and fired again.

Vivian _screamed_ at the pain. A disturbingly large chunk of her leg was just _gone_. Shaking her head, Vivian kept her head up and counted back from ten. She did that over and over again until her hearing cleared up. It took a few minutes for that, but once she did, she reached into her pocket and pulled the earpiece out.

Placing it back into her ear, she winced at the static only to remind herself the stupid energy fields prevented communication. And she was in a cell with its own energy field. Taking the ear piece out, she slipped it back into her pocket. Last thing she needed was the sound of static in her ear.

" _Fuck_ ," Vivian hissed. It took several deep breaths and a few minutes after that to even try to move. She first turned so that her back was toward the door. That took about a couple of minutes and a few screams to get though. Her entire body shook once she faced the wall and then she held both hands up.

"C'mon, it's just a quick thing. Like ripping off a band-aid while knowing that it's probably going to rip all the skin off at the same time," Vivian muttered to herself. "God, that was the worst way I could have phrased that. Fuck it. I've survived worse."

Vivian groaned in pain as she pushed off the wall and slid across the room. The momentum agitated every single one of her wounds at once and blood streaked across the floor like she was dragging a corpse out of the place. She was barely breathing by the time she reached the door and it was then that she realized the second problem with her plan. She was in a cell. She was in a cell that wasn't designed to be opened from the outside, and that meant that she'd need to have enough energy to punch a hole through the energy field, get the door open somehow, and then get through that doorway before the energy field came back up.

It just wasn't going to happen.

Vivian leaned against the wall and sighed, glancing out. Nausea was building in her as she felt her body knit itself together. The wounds themselves would probably be fine, but the healing process always felt much longer than it actually was. After sitting for a few minutes, she thought she was going to fall asleep until she heard pounding footsteps. Glancing into the hall, she smiled weakly as she saw Bucky and Steve. They both looked pale. She couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, but Steve brought his shield down onto the door and Vivian was surprised when it swung open.

"Huh, look at that. You guys got the energy field to go down."

"Natasha did that," Steve said, crouching down and cupping her face in his hands. "Jesus, you're pale."

"That's pretty standard considering how white I am," Vivian murmured.

"Viv, how badly were you hurt?" Steve asked, ignoring the joke.

"A huge chunk of my calf got blown off with a gun, so that’s a bummer. Also, I've been shot a couple times, I think. I can't remember if it was one time or two and I don't feel like sticking my fingers into bullet wounds or looking at them. Although I can tell that the wounds go all the way through and that's a relief. Digging out bullets is a nightmare."

" _Viv_ ," Steve choked out.

"Did you drag yourself across the room?" Bucky whispered, sounding like he was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Actually, I used my powers and zoomed myself across the room, and it actually sucked."

"Viv, we need to get you up and out of here. Is it okay if I pick you up?" Bucky asked, reaching over and gently stroking her cheek. Steve, meanwhile, still looked close to tears and he was clenching his hands as if he was trying to will them not to shake.

Vivian nodded and took a deep breath, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth as Bucky gently slid his right arm behind her back and his left arm under her knee. Pressing her face to his shoulder helped, but she still couldn't help but cry out a bit as she was lifted off the ground. She could hear Steve choke back a sob and let out a shuddering breath as Bucky whispered, "It's okay. I've got you."

"Who did this to you?"

Vivian had been slipping into unconsciousness when Steve asked that, his anger and sorrow almost palpable.

She gripped tighter at one of the straps on Bucky's uniform as she admitted, "Zemo. I found his hostages. He threatened them, said he was gonna shoot either them or me, so I pissed him off so he'd definitely shoot me. I just didn't expect his gun to work that fucking well. Did Stark find the scepter?"

"Yeah, he did," Bucky sighed.

"How come we couldn't reach you on the earpiece?" Steve asked, gently rubbing her arm.

"Um," Vivian shook her head and tried to stay conscious, although her body desperately wanted to pass out. "Uh, when I got through the first energy field, I found out the earpieces didn't work through it. I don't know why. All I got was static. It was a pain in the ass and so I took it out. The cells had their own energy fields separate from the building so it was pointless to put it back in. And now I'm with you two. It's in my pocket."

"Stark's gonna be pissed that Hydra can block his signal," Bucky sighed.

Vivian tapped on Bucky's shoulder, smiling softly as he glanced at her before she said, "Hey, not to panic either of you, but I am going to pass out for a bit due to blood loss."

Bucky's eyes widened and she could feel his grip on her tighten. Black spots filled her vision and she could hear both of them saying her name as they covered her vision entirely. She wasn't unconscious for long though since she woke up partway through an IV. Pushing herself up, she wasn't surprised when that summoned Steve. He was wearing casual clothes. She sighed, "I'm guessing I've been out for a while."

"Viv, you shouldn't be sitting up. You lost a lot of blood," Steve frowned, gently pushing her back down.

"Steve, I'm all right. Just a little tired. I'm guessing I got a blood transfusion?"

Steve nodded, but then frowned and moved closer. Vivian winced as he whispered, "The blood they transfused to you was yours. Dr. Cho said you have a reserve of blood here, that you add to it whenever you can."

"Seemed like a smart idea at the time, and it ended up being one since blood donation is trickier than people think," Vivian said with a soft smile. "If it's a reserve of my own blood then that eliminates a lot of the issues. The blood type is always gonna match. I was hoping I wouldn't need to use that much this soon, but shit happens."

"I'm sorry."

Vivian frowned at the way Steve's voice shook. He had tears in his eyes. Taking Steve's hand in hers, she squeezed it as she whispered, "Steve, why are you apologizing?"

"You asked if you should come back. I told you to go ahead without us. I told you to go ahead without me. That's the only reason you were alone in there."

Vivian sighed and gently tugged Steve forward. He hugged her and she wrapped her arms around him while whispering into his ear, "Steve, I cornered myself in a cell. I should have waited for backup. If I'd waited to go in, I would have been fine."

Steve pressed a kiss to her shoulder and she pulled back, gently pushing his hair back, "You didn't do anything wrong, Steve, and if we're going to be going after Hydra together, you can't be solely focused on me. And there might be other times where I go into a place and get injured."

"I don't like it," Steve whispered, pressing his forehead against hers."

"I know you don't and you don't have to. Bucky wasn't exactly thrilled that I got shot. Speaking of which, where is he?"

Steve smiled weakly, "Talking to Bruce and Sam. They're talking to him about relaxation techniques since he got a little worked up about everything that happened." Vivian kissed Steve's lips and then sat up, swinging her legs over the bed as Steve whispered, "Hey, no. It's only been a few hours. You should stay here."

"I've walked on much worse and--" Vivian sighed and then whispered, "Sorry. Fuck. I know. I should rest, but I just…can't I go back to our floor? This bed isn't big enough to be shared and I don't…I don't want to sleep alone."

Steve smiled and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, we can go back up to our floor. You want to go up in a wheelchair or for me to carry you."

"Why do you ask questions you already know the answer to?" Vivian teased. Steve chuckled and scooped her up in his arms. Vivian winced slightly, but wrapped her arms around his neck. She smirked and ran her fingers through his hair as she added, "I'm sorry that I scared you."

Steve turned his head and kissed the palm of her hand and whispered, "I never blamed you. Bucky didn't either."

Vivian nodded and curled up closer to Steve, enjoying just being close to him as she whispered, "Still…I need you to know that I was trying to keep myself safe this time. Or at least I was until Zemo showed up."

"I know, sweetheart," Steve murmured.

The trip to their floor didn't take long and Vivian smiled when as soon as the elevator doors opened, Steve handed her to Bucky while chuckling, "Hold her while I go cook lunch."

"You got it," Bucky teased, smiling.

Vivian pressed a kiss to his cheek and grinned when Bucky sat down on the couch, still holding her in his arms. Glancing up at him, she sighed when his expression became a little strained as he whispered, "You feeling better?"

"Yeah, a bit. I'm gonna be sore for a few days and I'm still not fully healed, but it seems Dr. Cho must have done something to speed it along."

Bucky nodded, "There's a device. It helped heal Clint's side since he got hit. She seemed really interested in your healing ability."

"Yeah, we've talked about it a bit. I trust her not to go supervillain with the information. And she's not interested in doing anything like what Hydra did to me. She just wants permission to use the data from when I am injured in the field. I gave her that permission."

"If you think even for a second that she might hurt you, tell us."

Vivian straddled Bucky's lap and pressed a kiss to his lips before he could complain. After a moment, he relaxed and she whispered, "I trust you and Steve with everything. Also, I think at this point a few others would have something to say about it as well."

Bucky grinned, "Yeah. If someone wants to come after you, they're gonna have to go through a lot of us." Vivian grinned and buried her face in Bucky's shoulder, shivering as he gently stroked her hair and whispered, "This time, we're going to keep each other safe."

She really hoped that was true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tentative people I've got pictured for Wanda and Pietro are Tatiana Eve Marie and Bálint Jaskó.  
>   
> 
> 
> Not 100% choices, but I am pretty sure they are Romani actors/performers. If I'm for sure wrong about that, please let me know and I'll remove these.
> 
> Regardless, those identities will be important to the characters and I'm sure as fuck not having them sign up to be part of a hate group that originated as Nazis.


	9. Nine: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: casual mentions of transphobia, digs at intelligence agencies
> 
> Originally posted as chapter 50 on September 27th, 2020. Reposted on October 3rd, 2020.

"Looks like there's a lot of people out there.

Glancing up from his phone, Bucky moved over and wrapped his arms around Vivian's waist. Resting his head on her shoulder, he whispered, "You still worried about spending time with all of them?"

Vivian shrugged, "I don't know. Lots of people are here and we're not exactly friends with all of them."

"Anyone that we are?" He asked, pressing a soft kiss to her neck.

"Sam and Trip are both here."

"Skye gonna be here?"

Vivian frowned, "I didn't see her, but we should probably ask Trip. I tried talking to him about it when we texted earlier, but he won't talk about it over the phone."

Bucky arched an eyebrow, "You think he's worried about a phone tap or something?"

"It would make sense since there's an extremely good chance of that phone being bugged."

"Wait, I thought he was close with Coulson?" Bucky asked, his brow furrowed.

Vivian rolled her eyes, "Oh, he is, but SHIELD is still SHIELD. Having a _better_ person in charge of a spy organization doesn't stop it from being a spy organization. If it's a company phone, it's company property, and therefore everything done on it is company business, most likely."

"That seems a little immoral."

"Because it is. You can't be both an intelligence organization and moral, not in this day and age. Especially not if they're competing with groups like the FBI or the CIA or the military or just regular cops. All those fuckers are immoral as hell. It's their nature."

Bucky pressed his face against Vivian's neck for a second, taking deep breaths before he whispered, "What about the Avengers? What are we?"

"Gray," Vivian said, shrugging her free shoulder. "To be honest, it's a hefty amount of hypocritical bullshit for me to be judging the morality of anyone at this point. I did a lot of shit over the past ninety years."

"Pretty sure no one held a gun to SHIELD's head and told them to spy on everyone or else the people they love would be tortured and killed."

Vivian sighed and then shook her head, "God, Steve's gonna roll his eyes so hard they fall out of his head if he finds out I delayed us going to the party by having a moral pity party for myself."

Bucky grinned and squeezed her side while teasing, "Only after he reassures you for the billionth time that you're a good person."

"Surprised you didn't make that spiel."

"Oh, I figured it'd be more effective if I teamed up with Steve," Bucky murmured into her ear, chuckling as she gently elbowed him. "C'mon, let's go see how the party is going."

Bucky took Vivian by the hand and they stepped out of the corner they'd been hiding in so he could get a better look at the crowd. He immediately felt his heart rate speed up just a bit as he saw all the people. All the Avengers being there wasn't a shock, but there were so many more people there. Thor had brought along Jane and Darcy. Bruce had cautiously brought along a woman Bucky had never met before, but he was pretty sure her name was Betty. Clint and Natasha were having a rousing game of darts against a very tall woman that he could hear them calling 'Kate'.

Tony seemed to have invited Pepper, Rhodey, _and_ Maria Hill. They were talking to Coulson. Sam and Steve were off by the jukebox (he wasn't sure when Stark had bought that) laughing about something. And those were just the people he recognized or could piece together their name. There were at least a dozen other people milling about that he'd never seen before in his life. He wasn't sure if he was expected to talk to _all_ of those people and he could feel his throat tighten. He glanced at the elevator, half a second away from going back when Vivian leaned up and whispered into his ear, "It's okay. We'll find a quiet corner and if people come up to us, we'll talk to them, but we won't seek anyone out. No pressure."

Bucky nodded and took deep breaths, heading to an oversized chair off to the side and sat down. Vivian immediately sat on his lap and he chuckled, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. He was glad she was there with him and hell, even thankful they'd had a bit of a moral goddamn argument before stepping out. At least that he could focus on, pick apart without thinking about just _how many people were there_.

"Trip!" Vivian announced, grinning and motioning Trip over.

Trip grinned and pulled up a chair to sit across from them while teasing, "See you two found the best spot in the house. You get a drink yet?"

Bucky shook his head, but stayed quiet as Vivian shrugged, "Not yet. Still figuring it out."

"I get that," Trip nodded. "Although I will say if you're interested in drinking, I heard Thor brought some wild Asgardian alcohol that's supposed to be able to get you superhumans drunk."

Vivian laughed, "That's sweet of him, but drunk me is probably not a good idea considering…everything."

"Drinking a mocktail for the same reason," Trip said, holding up his drink before taking a sip.

Bucky cleared his throat before he asked, "How's Skye doing?"

Trip frowned and sighed, setting down his drink and rubbing his left shoulder. His shirt was pinned below the stump of his arm. Bucky couldn't help but notice that it looked like they'd both lost their left arm in about the same spot, but didn't want to say anything if Tripp didn't want to talk about it. Fortunately, he didn't have to decide whether to bring it up when Tripp said, "She's getting better, but it's…hard right now. She still blames herself for…"

Trip raised his shoulder a bit and then sighed, "I wish she wouldn't. It wasn't her fault. She didn't make me follow her around in that damn temple and she didn't make me bust up that stupid…I just can't really get her to believe it. And now she's got…" Trip glanced around and sighed, "That artifact gave her powers somehow and she's having trouble controlling them."

"What kind of powers?" Vivian asked, sitting up straighter. Bucky could feel her tensing.

Trip smiled softly, "She can make things shake, but she can also kind of shove people back with it. I don't know. I just…last time I saw her smile was because I joked that I always thought the earth moved when I was with her, but that was a little excessive."

"Adorable," Vivian teased.

"Hey, you two can't say _anything_ to me about this. You two and Rogers are _way_ worse than me," Trip said, pointing a finger.

"Oh, that's something I've got no problem confessing to," Bucky chuckled, running a hand up and down Vivian's back. "Pretty sure sweet talking is the reason they keep me around." Vivian elbowed him and he joked, "Ow."

"Ignore him," Vivian said. "He knows we're just as crazy about him as he is about us."

"Every damn person who meets you knows that," Trip said. He then frowned and scooted closer, "Listen, I got to ask. Do you know how to help someone control her powers? Not get rid of them, but just…control them. Skye's powers are hurting her and then, completely on accident, other people. It's not her fault, but…people are scared. She can break bones, hers and others, without meaning to do anything at all."

Bucky frowned and watched Vivian's reaction. She looked worried. Slipping his hand into hers, he squeezed her hand and pressed another kiss to her shoulder. Vivian smiled softly before she said, "I used to have problems controlling my powers. Most people who either are born with them or obtain them go through an…adjustment period. Our emotions can cloud things and we can get a little violent."

"You know the X-Men, right? Can they help her? Because right now she's off on her own in a cabin while…while our friends try to help her get rid of this."

"Well, some time alone might help, but there's definitely no chance of it going away. It's in her DNA. It's who she is. I know people in the government have _tried_ to do it, but it usually doesn't end well. As for the X-Men…"

"What?" Trip asked, frowning.

Vivian sighed and tilted her head back before she said, "If she's an Inhuman instead of a mutant then they won't help."

"Why not?" Trip demanded. "She's hurting! And what the hell kind of bullshit is it calling her _Inhuman_?"

"It's the name the other group chose," Bucky interrupted.

"X-Men isn't the only group of powered people and they don't always get along," Vivian sighed. "The one time I was talked to about Inhumans, I was told that we, as mutants and as X-Men, weren't equipped to help them. We don't know enough about them, and any time we find one, Inhumans would show up and take them somewhere else."

"Wait," Trip said, standing up. "They take them? How do they know how to find them?"

Vivian shrugged, "No idea. They just always seemed to know."

"Excuse me," Trip said, getting up and quickly moving across the room.

"What's got him moving like his pants are on fire?" Clint asked, taking Trip's half-finished drink from the table and drinking it.

"Pretty sure that's none of your business, nosy." Clint yelped as his ear was flicked. The woman then turned to them and rolled her eyes, "Hey. I'm Kate. Figured I'd introduce myself since this dipshit's busy stealing drinks."

"I was _going_ to introduce you if you'd given me two seconds," Clint griped, finishing the drink and then setting the glass back down.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Vivian," Vivian said, holding out her hand. Kate and Vivian shook hands while Vivian nodded to him. "This here's Bucky."

"Nice to meet you," Kate said, grinning. She then sent a pointed stare over to Clint. "See? That's how normal people introduce themselves."

Clint snorted, "Them? Normal? Hell no. You think they'd be in _this_ group without being fuckin' weirdos?"

Kate shook her head, "Not about to trust your judgment on this."

"I don't know, he got _really close_ to Steve," Vivian teased. "He probably knows a bit about him."

Bucky smirked as Clint blushed and then added with a wink, "He'd know us that well, but he'd have to buy us dinner first."

"Oh, then that's not gonna happen," Kate snorted. Clint gaped, but she just shrugged. "What? You're a cheap son of a bitch, Barton. I've bought the beer and pizza every time we've hung out."

"Not _every time_."

"Natasha bought it that time."

"No, the other time."

"Oh right, that time you--"

"Yeah."

"That doesn't count either."

Clint slumped in his chair and grumbled while Bucky chuckled, "How long have you two been friends?"

"Friends is a stretch," Kate joked. She then tilted her head back and sighed, "Shit, it's been years, right? You'd like, just been recruited to your shady bullshit organization."

Clint rolled his eyes, "And you were busy in the Olympics."

Kate snorted, "You know it wasn't the Olympics." Bucky arched an eyebrow and Kate sighed, "I have an 'unfair advantage', so I'm not allowed to compete."

"Oh, are you a mutant too?" Vivian asked, sitting up straighter, excitement in her expression.

Kate smiled, "No, although if I had unnaturally good aim, that would be pretty fucking sweet, but instead the people involved are assholes."

"Bunch of scared idiots," Clint scoffed.

Kate shrugged, "Whatever. Doesn't matter. They don't matter. I can bide my time before I crush them in front of a live audience. Let's talk about something else."

Bucky went to say something, but then grinned as Steve moved toward them, apologizing as soon as he was within earshot, "Fuck, sorry guys. Thor and Sam were talking to me about things and I lost track of time."

"S'ok," Bucky said, kissing him as he leaned close. He then nodded, "You meet Kate?"

"Yeah!" Steve grinned, shaking Kate's hand again. He then blushed, "Uh, I've run into her after movie nights with Clint."

"Translation: I got to see Captain America's Walk of Shame," Kate teased.

Steve was bright red and Bucky snorted, but then couldn't help but smile and just stare at him in pride as Steve retorted, "Didn't have anything to be ashamed of."

Kate snorted, "Wouldn't be proud of it if I were you."

To anyone else, Steve would look like he wasn't reacting to that at all, but Bucky saw him flinch. Clint must have as well, because he sat up and gave Steve a pointed look as he said, "She's judging you for hooking up with me, not for hooking up with someone. She thinks I'm an idiot."

"It's because you _are_ an idiot and Rogers is too good for you," Kate laughed. Her eyes then lit up and she grinned, "Oh shit, gotta run. Maria's looking close to killing Stark, so I better go get her before she does."

Bucky watched as Kate ran over to Maria's side and slid an arm around her waist, pulling her away from Stark. The two laughed and then went off to a corner, their heads tilted together. Nodding over to them, Bucky chuckled, "They been together long?"

Clint shrugged, "I stay out of her business. Last time I tried to poke my nose into her business, she stole my coffee, kicked my ass, and reminded me that her dick is bigger than mine."

"Captain Rogers!" Thor boomed, approaching with his arms spread. Steve chuckled and hugged Thor before pulling back. Bucky smiled weakly as Thor moved immediately over to them and crouched down, "Sergeant Bucky, Lady Vivian, it was an honor to fight alongside you."

"You too, pal," Bucky said, exchanging a glance with Viv.

"Heard you brought some special booze from Asgard," Vivian grinned.

"Verily!" Thor boomed, nearly vibrating with excitement. "Captain Rogers deemed it mighty indeed."

Steve coughed and rubbed the back of his neck before he said nervously, "I said it was strong."

Clint snorted and got up, muttering, "That's an understatement."

Rolling his eyes as Clint wandered off, Bucky winced as Thor held out a flask and was glad when Vivian grinned, "Thanks, but no thanks. Bucky and I try to avoid being drunk."

Thor nodded solemnly and pocketed the flask. He then knelt in front of them and sighed, "My deepest apologies. It was cruel of me to offer such a thing when you are still yet recovering."

"S'okay," Bucky reassured him. The man was like a giant Labrador and if he had a tail, Bucky was sure it would have been wagging as he looked up at them and grinned.

"Captain Rogers was correct. Your hearts are generous and true. I would be honored to consider you my companions."

"Yeah, buddy, I'd say we're friends," Bucky chuckled. His eyes then widened as Thor lurched forward and kissed him softly on the lips. He could feel Vivian trying not to laugh as she sat in his lap. For about half a second, Bucky thought about pushing Thor away, but the man was a damn good kisser. Bucky kissed back, unsurprised that the kiss was _powerful_ to say the least.

Breathing deeply as the kiss ended, Bucky opened his mouth to say something, but then smirked as Thor kissed Vivian next. Vivian kissed back about as quickly as he did and the kiss was, to put it mildly, gorgeous. Bucky wrapped an arm around her waist as she started to slide out of his lap and chuckled as she slumped back against him as the kiss ended.

Thor apparently seemed determined to keep going though and then kissed Steve passionately. Hell, he even grabbed Steve's ass and _dipped him_. Biting his bottom lip and watching, Bucky chuckled as Vivian whispered, "You used to do that all the time."

"I still do it."

The kiss finally ended and Steve swayed on his feet as he was stood upright. Thor then bowed his head and walked off. After he was gone, Steve choked out, "Is it just me or does he taste like honey?"

"No, he definitely tasted like honey," Vivian sighed.

Bucky snorted and reached over, gently pinching Steve's side as he teased, "Y'know, I think if you asked real nicely, he'll kiss you again. Probably one more will get you where you need to go."

Vivian snorted and Steve was just so unbelievably bright red as he mumbled, "I'm not _that_ bad."

Bucky watched as Vivian leaned up toward Steve and nothing had to be said. Vivian didn't have to ask for anything as Steve just seemed to instinctually meet her halfway, kissing her sweetly. Glancing across the room, Bucky spotted Coulson watching wide-eyed with a drink in his hand. Their gazes met and Bucky winked, laughing as Coulson's cheeks went bright red. Grinning, Bucky tilted his head and teased, "Hey, Steve, babe, c'mere and give me a kiss. Your biggest fan is watching."

"You gotta stop teasing Coulson like that," Vivian teased, ending the kiss with Steve.

"But he's so goddamn easy to tease," Bucky laughed.

Steve rolled his eyes and leaned over, murmuring, "Behave yourself."

Bucky snorted, "That's rich coming from you." Before Steve could retort, Bucky pulled him close and kissed him passionately. He knew exactly how to make Steve weak at the knees. He dragged his nails along the back of Steve's neck and grinned into the kiss as Vivian slipped out of his lap so Steve could straddle him on the chair. Glancing past Steve, he could see Coulson blushing and finally glancing away. Bucky gave a final nip to Steve's bottom lip before he whispered, "Look at you. So sweet for me."

Steve's eyes widened and he glanced over his shoulder before blushing bright red and standing up. Vivian wrapped an arm around Steve's waist as she teased, "Aw, sweetheart, it's okay. Pretty sure everyone in this room knows you're crazy about us."

"I don't care if the people in this room know I'm dating both of you," Steve whispered with a frown. "I'm just not used to…"

"PDA?" Vivian asked.

Steve nodded, "Yeah. I'll get used to it though."

"You don't have to get used to anything if you don't want to. I don't wanna…" Bucky trailed off and stared at the ground. "I don't want to force you into something."

"That's--" Steve sighed, pulled up a chair and whispered, "Bucky, that's not what I meant. I _want_ to get more comfortable being open."

Bucky smiled, but then arched an eyebrow as Tony strolled over with a drink in his hand. He took a long drink from it before he announced, "Didn't take you three for exhibitionists."

"Tony, don't make me call Pepper over here," Steve joked.

"You're threatening to _tattle_ on me?" Tony scoffed.

"You three keeping out of trouble?" Sam asked, coming up and nodding to them. Bucky hid his grin behind his hand as Sam pointed to Tony and smirked, "Well, not asking if you're behaving yourself. Heard all about what a menace you are."

"Don't let the All-American look fool you, Cap's a liar," Tony announced, pointing.

"Oh, Cap's not the one who told me. Rhodey is," Sam said, taking a sip.

Tony gaped, but then grumbled and stomped off while shouting, "Rhodey, you traitor, give me back my scotch!"

Sam shook his head, "You three doing okay?" Bucky nodded and Sam grinned wider before teasing, "Y'know, there is a couch you could have gone to."

"Yeah, but it's in the middle of the room," Vivian shrugged.

Sam nodded, "I get it. There's a lot of people here." He then nudged Steve and teased, "Your man mingled for a bit, thanks to Thor's magical liquor."

"It's not magical," Steve sighed.

"Like hell it's not. That shit fucking glowed when he poured it, so either it's magical or he poured a goddamn glowstick into it, so you better goddamn hope it's magic," Sam scoffed.

Vivian grinned, "Hey, I've drank glow sticks before. It's not that bad."

Sam stared blankly at Vivian, "You know, the fact that I can't tell if you're lying or not is frightening."

"She's kidding," Bucky chuckled. He nodded over at Trip, who was whispering to Coulson. "He doing okay?"

Sam nodded, "Trip? Yeah, seems to be. A little worried about something, but he's relaxed a bit. I gave him my card in case he needs anything. He appreciated it. Seems like he needs some friends outside of SHIELD." Bucky nodded, but then glanced off to the side as Sam said, "Y'know, wouldn't hurt for you three to have some friends outside of the Avengers."

"We do. We're friends with people from SHIELD and the X-Men and also our lawyers," Vivian said, sitting back onto Bucky's lap. Bucky wrapped an arm around her waist and winced as Vivian pointed out, "It's not like we can wander around or join a group or something. We're nearly hundred year old assassins."

"You're both war veterans," Sam suggested.

"Of course, people will definitely be able to relate to our service history considering penicillin was brand new when we were serving," Vivian laughed.

Sam grinned, "Okay, so maybe it'd be a little tricky. Still, just think about it."

"We will," Steve said, smiling. "Thank you, Sam."

"Also, in Steve's defense, he did have a friend outside of all of this, but then you _joined_ all of this," Bucky teased.

Sam rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah." He then glanced back over his shoulder. Bucky followed his gaze and saw him smile over at Sharon Carter. Exchanging a glance with Vivian, Bucky nodded over. Vivian nodded. When Sam glanced back, he pointed at them, "No. None of this. I don't know what you two are thinking, but stop it."

"I didn't say anything," Bucky said, smirking.

"Didn't have to," Sam said, rolling his eyes. He then stood up. He was about to say something when people started leaving.

"What's going on?" Bucky murmured.

"I don't know," Vivian frowned.

"Be right back," Steve whispered before heading over to a frantic looking Tony. Soon the rest of the Avengers, minus them and Sam, were whispering frantically in a huddle.

"I'm gonna go see what's going on," Sam said and cautiously walked over to join the huddle.

Bucky hugged Vivian close and whispered, "You gonna head over there too?"

Vivian shook her head and buried her face against his neck. Running his fingers through her hair, Bucky frowned as he saw everyone but the Avengers leave. The people leaving were laughing and teasing each other about who would drive, so it wasn't like whatever was bothering the team had been released to everyone they knew.

"Hey, Jarvis, can you tell us what's going on?" Bucky asked carefully.

The deafening silence that followed caused Vivian to glance up as she whispered, "Holy shit. Jarvis _always_ responds. No wonder they're worried."

Bucky glanced around the room and suddenly missed carrying half a dozen weapons on him at any given time. Since relaxing in the tower, he'd stopped. His frantic gaze must have gotten Vivian's attention though and she whispered into his ear, "It's okay. We're okay."

"You don't know that," Bucky whispered, still eyeing the rest of the room cautiously. "We trusted that Jarvis would keep us safe before. Now Jarvis is AWOL. That means the security in this place is compromised. There's _nothing_ keeping--"

"Tony's not an idiot. I'm almost certain that while Jarvis had access to everything, there has to be some sort of failsafe to it all," Vivian sighed, looking around. She then frowned and stood up as Steve and Tony stared each other down.

Bucky was on his feet too once Steve shouted, "You did _what_? What were you _thinking_? That was reckless and unnecessary and--"

"And what?" Stark snarled. "What would you have me do? Just _wait_ for the next _alien army_ to attack the world? Goddamnit, Rogers, you know what we've faced. You know what we've dealt with. You know how many people have died!"

"I do," Steve said, still speaking loudly, but quieter than he had before. "But you used _Loki's goddamn scepter_. It led an army. It brainwashed Clint!"

"Listen, I get that you two fucked, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to put him above the rest of the planet," Tony taunted.

"Fuck you," Steve spat. "This has _nothing_ to do with that. You took a dangerous weapon that you couldn't even _begin_ to understand--"

"I understand more than you ever could."

"Hubris. Fucking hubris again. You never listen to yourself, do you? You used a weapon from _outer space_ that _none of us understand_ and you tried to what? Use it to enhance a suit? Whatever you did, it didn't work! All it did was break Jarvis."

"We don't know that those two things are related."

"Oh, so you're saying it's a _coincidence_ that your unregulated, highly immoral experiment with a Chitauri weapon finished and disappeared at the same time Jarvis did, but they're _not_ connected?"

Tony glared and went to shout, but thankfully Sam stood up and whistled loudly before interrupting, "Everyone be quiet. Now I don't care how this happened. I'm not interested in blaming and neither should you."

Steve's shoulders slumped and he sighed, "I'm sorry, Tony. Sam's right." Bucky walked over with Vivian, smiling softly at Steve and nodding. He watched as Steve took a deep breath before he asked, "I know that Jarvis usually is a way for you to shorten what you need to do, but can you go old school and check your system to see what exactly happened?"

"Yeah," Stark grumbled and stomped off.

"Steve, I know it's personal for you, but--" Sam began as soon as Stark was off.

Clint shook his head, "No, Steve's not the only one that's mad. That fucking thing _brainwashed_ me. It made me turn against my team, my family, my goddamn _country_ and just…" He took a deep breath and Natasha gently squeezed his arm. Clint shook his head, "No, we had no goddamn evidence that the scepter was capable of being helpful at all, but he decided that he was going to play with it anyway without talking to any of us. None of us got a say in this."

"Actually," Bruce sighed, stepping up. "He talked to me."

"When?" Natasha demanded.

"After he'd already started," Bruce sighed. "While everyone else was worried about Clint and Vivian, he started thinking about everything Hydra had managed to do with the scepter. He wanted to create something new."

"Like what?" Vivian asked, and it was only years of knowing her that made Bucky able to hear the absolute furious tension in her voice.

"He got really scared during that last mission. We were all so tired, but currently all he can do is just have his pre-programmed 'get out of the areas' bots. They're not perfect though and can't adjust well. And he can't have Jarvis handling everything at once. It's too much power for even that," Bruce explained. He then rubbed his hands over his face before he said, "He tried to come up with a _true_ artificial intelligence, one that can handle robots on their own so that we can do more things at once or, god forbid, have a day off."

"We're not the only ones protecting people though," Vivian pointed out. "New York alone has more superheroes than pizza places. More and more people, powered or not, are stepping up to protect people."

"She's right," Sam said. "There's a lot of good people out there stepping up and willing to do the right thing. This isn't all up to us."

"No, it's not," Clint sighed. "But people think it is. And so if we're off doing something else and a huge thing happens, people pin it on us."

Frowning, Bucky cleared his throat and everyone went quiet. He smiled at that before he said, "According to Sam, survivor's guilt is a hell of a thing, and there's not a way to do everything perfectly so that no one ever dies. That's not the way the world works. Even if Stark came up with ways to clone all of us so that we could be everywhere at all times, it wouldn't stop tragedy. And until Stark learns that, until _everyone here_ learns that, we're not gonna get anywhere. And beyond that, right now we just need to wait to see what Stark figures out about his new project and how to get Jarvis back."

Steve winced at that and Bucky took a step forward. Steve held up his hand and cleared his throat, "Bucky's right." Sighing, Steve crossed over to stand between them and wrapped an arm around each of them as he said, "And until then, we should all try to get some rest while we can."

"Are you sure that is the correct course of action, Captain?" Thor asked, frowning. He'd been quiet for so long that Bucky had forgotten that he'd been there.

Steve nodded, "If you have tech skills and Tony will allow you to help, then do it, but otherwise rest up. We have no idea where this is going to take us. Considering how much of a genius Stark is even without the help of the scepter, we could be preparing for an uphill battle here."

"Is my Jane in danger?" Thor asked, stepping forward.

Steve shrugged, "I don't know. We don't even know if there is a danger to them yet. However, Coulson knows we're on high alert, just not why. We'll be able to utilize his team to get anyone we need to safety."

"Heimdall can also assist," Thor said gravely.

"Wouldn't exactly be a trail to follow with that," Sam chuckled.

Bruce rubbed his hands through his hair nervously as he said, "I'll go check on Tony. The rest of you should follow Steve's advice. It's gonna be a long night."

Bucky pulled Steve close, squeezing his hand as they headed up to their floor. Once they got back to their floor, Vivian took each of them by the hand and grinned, "C'mon. We should follow your orders, Captain."

Steve sighed, "What if Stark needs us?"

"With what?" Bucky chuckled. "C'mon, baby, Bruce will make sure they come to get us if we're needed."

"We need _rest_ ," Vivian whispered, leaning up and kissing Steve softly.

Bucky smiled as he saw Steve practically melt into the kiss, nodding as Steve finally ended it and whispered, "All right. You two win. Let's go to bed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't explain why I decided Kate Bishop is a trans woman, but she is now, so what up. Also, I really wanted it to be more overt that she's trans, but then I realized that the only way I could make that happen is if Kate just kind of announced it to people she barely knew, which didn't seem like something she would do _or_ if someone outed her, and I _definitely_ didn't want that. Oh and finally, Nicole Maines is the kind of look I'm going for with Kate Bishop, although Nicole is 22 and I want her to be in her mid to late 20's. Still younger than Clint, but not tremendously younger.
> 
> Oh and this chapter is a kind of 'fuck the Whedon version of this party, this is my version of the party'. So already you can tell there's gonna be a lot different in my telling of Ultron. Some elements will remain though.
> 
> ~~Also, guess who's once again panicking about things she already decided and is going to be splitting this story up into part 3 and part 4 even though she already asked for a vote! Seriously though, I am. I'm still nowhere near the end of this story. The division I'm currently looking at would be moving chapters 42 and up to a new part. I didn't wanna do it without warning though. Please know that I didn't ask for the vote for no reason. I really did think the reassurance would help with my anxiety, but the higher this word count and chapter count gets for this part, the more anxious I get about it. And it's started to interfere with my ability to write. Once it hits over 200k for one story, it's gonna paralyze me. I can feel it coming. And I know I have plenty left to say on this story.~~
> 
> ~~So next weekend, I'm going to move 42-50 to part 4 and mark this one completed. I will be making it clear that it's what I'm doing. I already have a name for part 4. 'I'll Crawl Home to Her'.~~
> 
> Obviously the last two paragraphs happened. I can't bring myself to delete this message though. I'm a weird person.


	10. Ten: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: argument involving mentions of torture
> 
> Per usual, if I missed any warnings, let me know.

_"What would you have me do? Just wait for the next alien army to attack the world? Goddamnit, Rogers, you know what we've faced. You know what we've dealt with. You know how many people have died!"_

Steve woke with a start, his breathing a little heavy. For a moment he just lay there, staring up at the ceiling. His left arm was trapped under Bucky's head. Meanwhile, Vivian was clinging to him in her sleep, resting her head on his chest with her arm wrapped around him. He first moved his arm out from under Bucky before he gently rolled Vivian over to Bucky. Almost immediately, she curled up next to him and Bucky didn't hesitate to pull her close. He gently kissed them both before he got dressed and left the room. 

"You know, Barnes and Peshkova won't be happy that you're not asleep right now." 

Glancing over his shoulder, Steve chuckled, "Hey, Sam. How'd you know I'd be up?" 

"I didn't, honestly," Sam said, smiling and moving next to him. "Couldn't sleep either and I remembered you have better coffee than I do." 

Steve snorted, "Liar. I know you started drinking that fancy imported shit months ago." 

"Worth every penny," Sam said with a grin. Steve shook his head, but then tilted his head back as Sam nudged him, "C'mon, what's got you up before sunrise this time?" 

"Thought you insisted you weren't gonna be my therapist," Steve scoffed. 

"I'm not. I stand by what I said. I can't be both your friend and your therapist, so that's why I'm asking you as _your friend_." 

"Do you think I was too hard on Stark?" 

Sam snorted, "I think you two are both hard-headed and damn near opposite sides of the same coin. I also think Stark did some stupid shit, but honestly…I kind of get why he did it." 

Steve tensed, but then relaxed as Sam chuckled, "You can swallow the Captain America speech, by the way. I said I _understand_ , not that I approve. Just remember that Stark can't tell that you hold yourself to an even higher standard than you hold him." 

"I have to." 

"Do you?" 

"I'm Captain America." 

"No, you're Steve Rogers first. And he's Tony Stark, the guy who's known for, in order: being a billionaire, being a genius, and hooking up with more models than Leonardo DiCaprio." 

Steve sighed, "Okay that last comparison isn't fair." 

"Okay, I'll bite. Why's the comparison unfair?" Sam asked, grinning. 

"Stark's doesn’t treat a 25th birthday like an expiration date." 

Sam snorted, "How do you even know about that?" 

"Natasha. Clint joked that he wanted to seduce him just to cut his balls off, but then Natasha pointed out that even if Leonardo went for men, Clint's too old for him. She then explained it to me." 

Sam shook his head, "I still can't believe Natasha's the one who keeps track of celebrity gossip." 

"I'm pretty sure it's a cover." 

"A cover? For what?" 

"For keeping track of everything else. People get weird about women who know a lot." 

Sam winced and sighed before he asked, "Speaking of women who know a lot, how come your other thirds aren't here?" 

"Decided to let them sleep." 

"Viv's gonna kick your ass for that, y'know. She told you to wake her up when you get like this." 

Steve leaned against the glass and shook his head, "I know, but it took them a couple hours to fall asleep tonight. Bucky doesn't sleep well to begin with, and Viv…" Steve rubbed his hands over his face, "If we're going into something huge and Viv isn't rested, she won't heal as well. Her powers are all mental so if her mind isn't rested, it's all so much harder for her." 

"You worried she'll get hurt again?" Sam asked. 

" _Yes_. I know she's trying to not get into those situations, but the three of us seem to not be able to help ourselves," Steve said, smiling weakly. 

"That's for damn sure," Sam chuckled. "You three doing okay otherwise?" 

Steve nodded and smiled, "Yeah. We're all trying to stick to the therapy advice. We try to talk to each other instead of bottling things up, try not to wallow. I got paint supplies. I've been sketching lately. Bucky and Viv are currently still figuring out their next moves. We work out together, but we don't _only_ spend time together." 

"That's really good, Steve. I'm proud of you. Although next step is making Clint pay for the beer he drinks," Sam teased. 

Steve chuckled, but then sighed, "I know you don't want to hear about…all of that, so I'll keep it general, but Clint really was a huge help. He was the first _real_ friend that I had in this century. Even when we weren't being… _intimate_ , we would hang out. We would eat pizza, watch movies, shows, documentaries, and random videos. He introduced me to things I'd missed without making me feel like an absolute moron. He treated me like a person instead of some action figure to be sent out into the field. He got mad on my behalf more often than I did. As far as I'm concerned, he shouldn't have to buy beer for the rest of his goddamn life. I owe him a lot." 

Sam nodded, "That's really good of him." He then paused and glanced at him, "Wait, is that why you won't let me pay for food or drinks when we hang out?" 

Clearing his throat, Steve headed toward the kitchen as he asked, "You want some coffee? I think I'll make some coffee." 

"Steve," Sam laughed as he followed. "You know you don't have to bribe us, right? I mean, don't get me wrong, the coffee, booze, and food are damn good, but that's not why any of us come around." 

Steve sighed and went to work, starting a pot of coffee as he said, "Viv and Buck have told me the same thing, but I just…" 

"Yeah, I get it." 

Steve leaned against the counter, taking a deep breath before he said, "So I'm going to ask you something and you are under no obligation to answer me." 

Sam snorted and leaned against the counter as well, "I'm well aware of that, but thanks for the permission, I guess." 

Steve rolled his eyes, "I just want to make it clear that I don't expect anything, but I noticed that you and Sharon were really close during the party. I was just wondering how long that's been going on?" 

Sam chuckled, "Ah, now I get it." 

"I know it's none of my business, so all you have to say is that it's none of my business and I'll drop it." 

"Steve, take a deep breath for me," Sam instructed. Steve did as he was told, but then smiled. "Sharon and I started talking a little bit after the DC incident. At first it was just touching base on the phone. But then within a couple weeks, we were talking for hours. And then once I moved to New York, we started meeting up every chance we got. At first just as friends, but then…I took a chance. I asked her out." 

"I'm happy for you." 

Sam arched an eyebrow, "Really? Honestly, I wasn't sure. Sharon wasn't either considering you knew her as Kate, didn't know who her aunt is, and she was kind of spying on you." 

Steve snorted, "Yeah, that's true, but she was just doing her job. I'm not bothered, and I'm not the one dating her. By the way, pretty sure everyone's figured it out." 

Sam groaned, "No one can keep a damn secret in this place." 

"Nope," Steve chuckled. "It's a big tower, but not big enough for that." 

"So since we're asking each other stuff, what was with that kiss between you and Thor?" 

"Thor kissed a bunch of people at that party," Steve scoffed. 

"Nope, just four people. You three and Jane." 

Steve shrugged, "I honestly don't know then. Probably just intoxicated, although he's mentioned before that Asgardians aren't usually monogamous." 

"Really?" 

Steve nodded, "They live really long lives so that's at least part of it." 

"So how come he's monogamous now?" Sam asked, taking a sip of his coffee. 

Steve smiled, "Isn't it obvious? Jane." 

"Did you two get up early to _gossip_?" 

Sighing and rolling his eyes, Steve shook his head and chuckled, "Good morning, Clint." 

Cling winked and slid past him, grabbing the coffee pot. Before he could drink from it, Steve grabbed it and set it back, handing over a large mug that just looked like a coffee pot instead. It was filled to the brim with coffee and Clint cackled, "Did you get me a _present_?" 

"Figured it was the only way to stop you from drinking out of everyone's goddamn coffee pots. Besides, why are you up? You usually sleep in whenever you can." 

Clint frowned, "Yeah, and today wasn't one of those days." He then downed more of his coffee than could possibly be healthy before he said, "Tony, Bruce, and Natasha have been up all night working out what happened to Jarvis." 

"They know anything yet?" Sam asked. To anyone else, it would sound like Sam was calm, but Steve knew better. He could hear the nerves. 

Clint shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe. They haven't told me yet, and I know better than to bother them. Can't help them with that tech and hacking shit anyway. I asked around though. Has Viv?" 

"I don't know--" Steve froze as he glanced over and saw Vivian slowly approaching. Holding out an arm, he smiled softly as she immediately wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. "Hey," he murmured. "You sleep okay?" 

Vivian nodded, "Yeah. Took a shower. Bucky's taking one now. He'll be out in a few minutes." 

"I was kind of hoping you two would be able to sleep longer than that." 

"Should have stayed in bed then." 

Steve kissed her forehead and sighed, "You're right. I'm sorry." 

"You'll make it up to us," Vivian murmured. She then glanced at the other two and said, "I reached out to my contacts and there's nothing unusual that's happened so far. They'll contact me if that changes. Bucky reached out to our lawyer and got the same response, although him and his group are purely local contacts. What about you two?" 

Clint shrugged, "Nothing from my contacts that seems related to this. I passed some info about Hydra to Coulson. He agreed that they'll keep going after them while we take care of whatever shitstorm we're walking into." 

Sam chuckled, "Good idea. My contacts promised to keep an eye out, but otherwise I've got nothing." 

"The problem is that we don't even know if what Stark created will _have_ a tell," Bucky said, walking over and kissing Vivian and then Steve. Steve leaned slightly into the kiss, forgetting himself for a moment until Bucky pinched his side. 

"Hey, lovebirds, cut it out. Barnes, what do you mean?" Sam asked. 

Bucky stretched, "Stark's a genius. The things he knows, the things he can do, was enough to make Hydra try to take him out _twice_ before he was thirty." 

"Money also helped them decide to do that," Vivian said. 

"True," Bucky said. "But they also had their own motives for that and you know it. The cash and having dirt on people was just a bonus. Stark can create truly remarkable things. If he managed to make something without his ego, then it'd be unstoppable." 

"I heard that," Tony announced, and Steve had to stop himself from jumping. He hadn't expected Tony to show up. Natasha and Bruce were with him, both hiding smiles. 

"Tony, what'd you find out?" Steve asked, gently squeezing Vivian's side. 

Tony moved closer, and it was then that Steve realized that Tony looked exhausted. His usually perfectly manicured facial hair was in disarray and he had bags under his eyes. His hair looked like it'd been tugged at and his clothes looked worse. Bruce looked even worse than Tony did. Natasha would have looked absolutely perfect had it not been for the frayed cuticles and the chipped nail polish. They were all nervous. 

"My experiment worked," Tony sighed. Steve kept his mouth shut and just motioned for Tony to continue. Tony looked like for once he'd wanted someone to interrupt him. He then reluctantly continued, "My dad and one of his former business partners, Hank Pym, started work years ago on artificial intelligence. Pym wanted it to be self-aware, but my father shot it down. That was one of the five hundred issues that caused them to end their partnership. Well, that and my father was an asshole. Regardless, they never managed to fully make the artificial intelligence work. I got it to work with Jarvis, but I decided that Pym was right. The artificial intelligence needs to be self-aware. It's the only way it can truly grow once it's created." 

"Okay, so you managed to bring your daddy issues into this once again, that's good to know, but what does that have to do with this?" Clint sighed. 

Tony rolled his eyes, "With the scepter in my possession, I could run diagnostics and it helped me figure out a way to bridge that gap between science and science fiction. The program apparently finished itself during the party, studied all my data, disabled Jarvis, and then left via the internet." 

"Wait," Sam said, holding up a hand and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Are you trying to tell us that you went full Ghost in the Shell? Did you create the fucking _Puppet Master_?" 

Tony shifted nervously and sighed, "A+ reference, and yes, kind of. Maybe. It wasn't on purpose, but yes, for all intents and purposes, there is now a ghost in everyone's machine. And that's why we can't find it yet. It doesn't have a body yet. Or it didn't. We think we located where it's going to be built." 

Vivian laughed, "It's making itself out of adamantium, isn't it?" 

Tony winced, "A combination of adamantium, vibranium, and an alloy." 

"Oh, great job, Dr. Frankenstein, your newborn is making itself invincible," Vivian sighed. 

"I didn't mean for this to happen," Tony snapped. 

"No, but you have a history of going nuclear, so you can't exactly claim that you weren't planning on creating the robot out of these materials if it had stuck around," Vivian said. 

"She's got a point," Clint sighed. "You helped out with the helicarriers in DC." 

"I didn't exactly know Hydra was involved with that." 

"But you knew that they were going to be guns trained on the world," Steve said, staring pointedly. "You were perfectly willing to have our government be the ones doing it." 

"Fine, you want me to say I fucked up? _I fucked up_. The helicarriers were in a long line of things where I shouldn't have done them or shouldn't have trusted someone. This venture just adds to the goddamn pile. Is that what you want to hear?" Tony demanded, wild eyed and furious. "Do you want me to beg for forgiveness while pointing out how Saint Rogers over there has never messed up in his entire life?" 

Steve's shoulders slumped and he removed his arm from around Vivian's waist. He could feel Vivian's gaze on him, Bucky's as well. He wasn't surprised though when it was Bucky who whispered his name. Steve didn't turn toward him though, just walked forward and chuckled, "Sam's right again. I don't think I'm perfect, Tony. I'm hard on you, because I know you can do better. You _are_ better." 

Steve nodded toward Bucky and Vivian, "They'll pretend it's some part of how heroic I am or just gloss over it, but I mess up a lot. I'm too hot headed. I'm too stubborn. Any time a mission has failed and I've been in charge, that's on me. The fact that Hydra is still around and I didn't even notice until they shot Fury in my goddamn apartment? That is on me." 

"Steve," Sam whispered. "C'mon." 

Steve sent Sam a stare before he said, "The scepter was my responsibility, but instead of taking care of it, I was with Vivian. And the reason I was with Vivian was because she'd gotten injured after I sent her into that facility alone with no backup. I fucked up." 

"Steve, we've been through this. That's _not_ what happened," Vivian said. 

"She's right," Bucky whispered, moving close. 

"I shouldn't have gone at you the way I did," Steve continued. "I know you just want to do the right thing. And yeah, sometimes you go about it the wrong way, but I get it. I don't exactly always follow the rules with my ideas either. Just...Tony, you've got to stop doing this on your own." 

Stark scoffed and Steve took a step closer, making sure Tony was looking at him as he said, "You wanted us to be in this building for a reason. You wanted us to be a _team_ , so _trust us_. Turn to us when things are bad. I may not be able to help you program a robot, but I'm not an idiot. And there are people on this team that _do_ understand the science and the tech immediately. Hell, give me materials, and I can learn enough to at least bounce ideas off of. And if you don't want to do that, turn to Bruce. Turn to Natasha. God, talk to Pepper." 

Tony stared at him for a moment before he shook his head and coughed, "Most of the materials that my... _creation_ needs are easy to purchase. Adamantium is expensive and also because of all of its capabilities, it's tracked more than your average metal. Vibranium though is currently not widely available. There's a reason Dad only made one shield and there's no backup. He used everything he had for that." 

"How come It's so rare?" Sam asked. 

"Because it only exists in Wakanda and they don't want to open their borders. I respect that," Vivian sighed. 

"Vibranium could revolutionize medicine and technology," Tony scoffed. "They're being selfish." 

"Tony, we're both exceptionally white, and neither of us have any right to judge an African nation for not wanting to allow white people to get involved with their affairs. There's genuinely hundreds of years of evidence to say we don't have the right. Your father had access to a small amount and instead of figuring out its properties and how to use it to revolutionize science or medicine, he made a shield. A single shield." 

Everyone winced at that and Natasha nodded, "Reasons aside, they still sell a small amount of the resource to people outside Wakanda. There's a limited number of suppliers and recently one of them was robbed." 

"Robbed?" Clint scoffed. "How the fuck did your computer program rob this group?" 

"The program seems to have...recruited people," Bruce sighed. 

"It put together a team?" Bucky asked, frowning. "Do we know who?" 

Tony nodded and stared at his feet as he said, "I think...we think that he took people from Hydra." 

"Kidnapped?" Sam asked. 

Natasha shook her head, "Not in that way. We think Hydra kidnapped them first and then were potentially freed." 

"Two mutants. One boy and one girl. Teenagers. The boy has superspeed," Vivian sighed. 

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Bruce asked. 

Tony scoffed, "Those two got you shot, didn't they?" 

"Tony," Steve warned. He then glanced at Vivian and asked, "Viv?" 

Vivian nodded, "Yeah, I got to see their charts. Hydra wanted to enhance their powers. Most of the test subjects died. Those two seemed to be kept in comas when they weren't being experimented on." 

"Why no cryofreeze?" Clint asked quietly. 

"There was no sign that either of the twins had any regenerative properties," Vivian said, stretching slightly. "Without that, cryofreeze isn't really a viable option for most people. It tends to just kill them." 

"Wait, seriously?" Clint asked. 

Bucky nodded, "Yeah. You have to either have the serum or some regenerative abilities in order to survive. Most people can't survive the freezing and thawing process." 

"How'd Hydra know you'd survive?" Clint asked curiously. 

"They didn't." 

Clint's eyes widened and he coughed, "Right. Uh, sorry I asked. That's...yeah,, someone change the subject, please, I—" 

"I don't know what exactly the girl's powers are," Vivian said, saving Clint from himself. "Hydra seemed to be figuring it out as well. They kept crossing things off. She seems to be a psychic of some kind, but I don't know how powerful. Is there any footage of the attack?" 

Tony shook his head, "No, and that's why I know It's connected to my creation. The digital trail left behind is very similar to mine. The kids having powers also explains the short window for the theft." 

"How short?" Steve asked. 

"The security system along one route to the vibranium was shut off for fifteen minutes and that's enough time to carefully pack up vibranium so that a high speed escape won't make it explode on them." 

Clint gave a low whistle, "Fifteen minutes in and out? Damn. I'm guessing no witnesses?" 

"None," Natasha confirmed. "We're narrowing down where they'd need to go to build the body. They'd need specialized equipment. There are very few places equipped to handle vibranium, so we're narrowing down the places based on a number of factors we figured out, including location, access, employment, things like that. Since Jarvis just got back online, the searching was slow before." 

"What exactly is the plan for those kids?" Vivian asked. 

Bruce frowned, "We're going to turn them over to the government." 

"You can't!" Vivian snapped, looking like she was going to be ill. Steve reached for her, but she moved past him. "They're just kids. They're just scared kids that spent the past few years going through absolute Hell. Chances are, they want revenge on Hydra and they don't know who to trust, but they do know that creation _saved_ them when no one else did. I'm not saying your creation is the right move or that we should let them keep robbing places, but if you turn them over to the US government, that would be _catastrophic_. They will label them criminals and the government will _use_ them. They will _hurt_ them." 

"You don't know that," Bruce said, stepping forward. 

" _Yes, I do_!" Vivian shouted. "It wasn't Hydra that poured _molten metal_ along my father's skeleton. It wasn't Hydra that _faked his wife's murder_. It wasn't Hydra that pointed him at anyone and everyone they wanted out of their way. It wasn't Hydra that kidnapped Charles' students for experimentation, and it sure as fuck wasn't Hydra that tried to get rid of us entirely. I couldn't stop it from happening before, but you will have to find a way to kill me if you want to stop me from protecting these kids." 

"You going to fight all of us?" Tony scoffed. 

"Tony," Bucky warned, taking a step forward. Steve stepped forward as well. 

"I hope that the people I care about would also care about this, but if I'm alone in this venture, then I am prepared for that," Vivian said and Steve couldn't help but feel proud of her. He smiled as she continued, "Steve and Bucky are my goddamn heart, but I have family outside of them. I have friends outside this room and even I didn't, protecting these kids is the right thing to do. Protecting mutants is the right thing to do, and if you think the X-Men will let you put young mutants in harm's way, then you're out of your goddamn mind. So either help me or get out of my way." 

"Vivian, they stole—" Bruce began. 

"They _stole_?" Vivian interrupted with a laugh. "You're mad at them for _stealing_? Full offense, but _who gives a single solitary fuck_? Almost every single person in this room has stolen things, either recreationally or professionally. Every single person in this room has caused millions of dollars of property damage. Every single person in this room has killed people. Hell, if we're going to do a running total of crimes, Sam's the only person in here who could _maybe_ be on a high horse like that without looking hypocritical. These are _traumatized kids_ we are talking about. Their childhoods have already been wrecked by this, but I will die before I let it take the rest of their lives." 

"All right, everyone needs to step back and take deep breaths," Sam said, holding up his hands. "Vivian is right about those kids. Right now they're in a bad place and if we can help them, we should. That doesn't mean letting them get away with crimes. It doesn't mean just allowing them to do whatever they want." 

"You're taking her side," Tony scoffed. 

"No, I'm _not_ ," Sam stressed. "She goes off just as often as you do. We're the _Avengers_. We're a goddamn team. Our goal right now should be first finding out what exactly the creation is going to do and then proceed from there. If it will endanger people, we stop them. Now without snide comments, what is our next step?" 

"We wait until the program finishes and we do some further research. We then go there," Natasha said. 

"Great, let's do that. Until then, you three get some goddamn sleep and the rest of us need to do whatever it takes to calm the fuck down and pull it together," Sam said. 

Tony stormed off and Bruce muttered, "I'll go after him." 

Clint then walked off and Natasha followed. Taking a deep breath, Steve smiled at Sam and teased, "You know, you did a hell of a lot better at leading this team than I did. Maybe once I should hand over the Captain America title to you." 

Sam arched an eyebrow, "Nah, I think I'll let you keep it for a few more years." Steve snorted, but then smiled as he was nudged. "Maybe you three should get some more rest too." 

"I slept," Steve scoffed. 

Steve groaned as Bucky grabbed him by the hand and nodded to Sam, "We'll make sure he gets some more sleep." 

Sam saluted and left and Steve pointed at Bucky, "You _know_ that I slept. You know that I—" Steve sighed as Bucky tugged him close and kissed him. He sighed into the kiss, smiling as Bucky pulled back and pressed their foreheads together. 

"Steve, I know you didn't sleep through the night. We _know_ you left us early this morning. Come back to bed. _Rest_." 

Steve opened his mouth to say something, but then smiled softly as Vivian gently stroked his cheek and whispered, "C'mon. A little more sleep with us and you'll have a clearer head. We're _all_ going to need clearer heads." 

"Alright. You two win." 

"Of course we do," Bucky teased, gently tugging him toward the room. 

Pausing, Steve stopped both of them as he whispered, "Wait, I just...you two know that I love you, right? More than anything?" 

Bucky grinned, "Of course we do, punk. Besides, that's my line." 

"Fight me for it," Vivian teased, pulling them both toward the bedroom. Steve laughed, feeling some of the tension leave his body. 

"Now _that's_ my line," Steve laughed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man this chapter was an effort to get ready. I'm currently working on my work computer instead of my laptop thanks to my breaking my laptop screen. So until I get that back, which I'll be sending it for work on Monday (October 12th), it's been a little weird finishing this chapter up. I do have a vacation coming up though so I'm hoping to get a lot of writing done during that, but also my life has been a series of mini train wrecks this year so who knows if I'll be able to get ahead of the schedule during that time.
> 
> I also just want to reiterate and say that I'm so thankful to all of you that read my story and I'm extra grateful to those of you that comment. The fact that anyone reads this, let alone likes it enough to keep coming back and also comment is mind blowing to me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.


	11. Eleven: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: lots of guilt and some mild temporary brainwashing
> 
> Essentially this is my very twisted thing that got inspired by events in Age of Ultron. However, if you haven't seen Age of Ultron, I don't think you're going to necessarily be confused. I hope that anyway. If that's not the case, then I'm sorry.
> 
> Per usual, if I missed a warning or a tag, let me know in the comments.

"They have a location." 

Vivian glanced up and nodded at Natasha before glancing back down at her papers. She thought Natasha would leave but then Vivian sighed when she walked over and sat in front of her before asking, "You figure out a hobby?" 

"Yeah," Vivian sighed. She then handed the papers over. 

"You're translating _poems_?" 

Vivian smiled, "At the moment, yes. I'm practicing my language skills by translating random documents, particularly ones that involve some tricky wordings. Bonus points if they don't have an exact translation." Vivian sighed when Natasha just stared at her and then explained, "Learning languages was my favorite thing to do during my training. I don't know. Maybe it's stupid of me, but I feel like I can actually be helpful with this in a way that won't hurt people." 

"It doesn't sound stupid. It sounds like a great idea. You talk to Steve and Bucky about it?" 

Vivian nodded, "Yeah. They're happy, both because I actually enjoy this, but mostly because it's something for me to do that won't get me maimed." 

"I don't know, I think if anyone could figure out how to make translating pages dangerous, it'd be you," Natasha teased. 

"Shut up," Vivian laughed, but then smiled as Natasha smiled at her. Twirling her pencil between her fingers, she then sighed and whispered, "Been keeping myself busy. Steve and Bucky went to work out." 

"I know, I caught them making out. Something about Bucky beating Steve in a race. They said they'd shower and be right down. Sam was working out while glaring at them every once and a while." 

"That sounds about right. So what made you bring this information to me in person?" 

"Disappointed to see me? I thought we were friends." 

Vivian rolled her eyes, "We _are_ friends, Natasha. That's not what I meant. I was just curious if it was because we're friends or because most of the others are still mad at me." 

"Yesterday was hard on everyone, but after sleeping for longer than we should have, we're all in a much better place." 

"You make it sound like we're dead." 

"No, fortunately, we're all still here," Natasha said, standing up and then smiling. "Vivian, I came up here to personally tell you we've got a location because I wanted to see how you're doing. We all got worked up yesterday. People let everything that's been happening take over and...they forgot that those kids are just kids." 

"Did you forget?" 

"No," Natasha whispered. "No, I didn't, but I also don't know how to help these kids. I don't think they should be recruited, but can we really take care of them?" 

"I'm not going to decide where they go without them even being in the conversation," Vivian said, setting her papers aside and standing up. She then headed to the window and stared out at the city. Smiling weakly, she sighed, "I want to give these kids a real choice. I don't want it to be some forced bullshit where it's not really a choice. I want them to know that their lives aren't over and that Hydra didn't win. I want them to know that things can be different, that _we_ are different." 

"You want to do for them what you couldn't do for me," Natasha sighed. 

"Yes." 

"We've been through this. You did everything you could for me," Natasha said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, I don't know if you've noticed, but my life's pretty good. I've got a lot going for me. I can take care of myself and when I can't, the Avengers are pretty good backup." 

"I'm glad. I just want that kind of thing for these kids, although I don't think they should have to use their powers for anything they don't want to do. They deserve to have lives. _Normal_ lives." Vivian rubbed her hands over her face and sighed, "We have to get to them first though, I know that." 

"Then get your stuff and meet us in the meeting room. We're heading out as soon as everyone's ready." 

Vivian nodded, "Yeah. I'll meet you up there." 

Natasha nodded and Vivian watched her leave before glancing back down at the poems. Shaking her head, she then put them away and stood up to stretch. For a moment she just stood in the middle of the room, waiting for Steve and Bucky to get back. After waiting for a full minute, she slipped on her shoes and said, "Jarvis, if Steve and Bucky come back here before going to the meeting, let them know that I got too anxious and went there on my own. A _mild amount of anxiety_. I don't want them breaking down the door to the meeting." 

"Understood, Ms. Peshkova." 

Vivian nodded and headed onto the elevator, leaning against the wall. Staring up at the ceiling, she sighed and whispered, "Thanks, Jarvis." 

"You're welcome." 

Vivian kept her eyes closed until the doors opened. Once she walked out, the light chatter that had been happening in the room stopped. Tony's jaw clenched and he moved off to the side with Rhodey. Clint and Natasha nodded to her. Heading over to the side, she was surprised when Bruce looked like he wanted to come over and talk to her. Before he could though, Tony called over, "Bruce, over here!" 

"One second," Bruce said and crossed the room. Vivian watched curiously and once he was close, she was surprised when he whispered, "Can we talk?" 

"Of course," Vivian whispered. "I just wasn't sure you'd want to after..." 

"Bruce," Tony griped. 

"Just...give me a second, Tony," Bruce called over, sounding exasperated. Tony went to say something else, but then Rhodey grabbed his arm and shook his head. Walking to the side with Bruce, Vivian was even more surprised when he quietly said, "I owe you an apology. Tony does too, but probably don't hold your breath on that."

"Why do you think you owe me an apology? I pretty well snapped at everyone," Vivian grinned, leaning against the wall. 

"Because...you were right about those kids," Bruce sighed, his shoulder slumping. "This isn't an excuse, I know it doesn't make it right, but I was... _so tired_ , and all I could think of was how dangerous Hydra was and how often we've had to fight for our lives. I thought about how many of us have been tortured and hunted." 

"You panicked." 

"Yeah." 

"Well, good news is that you panicked in a hypothetical conversation and not actually out in the field," Vivian said with a soft smile. "I don't hold it against you. We're not exactly close, but I figured you weren't going to actually feed those kids to the wolves." 

Bruce frowned, "But I thought about it. I thought about it even after everything the army did to me. I've been a fugitive for _years_ and all it took was sleepless nights and a little bit of fear and I almost..." Bruce shook his head, "We have to help those kids." 

"Bruce," Vivian sighed and moved close. "If you want to punish yourself for something, then that's your prerogative, but _thinking_ something bad or even, hell, having an unfortunate sleep deprived outburst isn't the same thing as _doing_ something bad. As someone who has done all of those things, I can promise you that only one of the things deserves actual penance. If you must punish yourself though, do so by doing your best for those kids going forward. And also maybe keeping Tony from being so vocally passive aggressive." 

"Sorry, I don't promise miracles," Bruce joked weakly. 

"You askin' for miracles, doll?" Bucky whispered, wrapping his arms around her waist. 

Vivian rolled her eyes and winked at Bruce before grinning, "Nah, I know better than to ask the good doctor of that. You and Steve have fun torturing Sam?" 

"Oh, plenty. So much fun that Sam started throwing things at us," Bucky laughed. 

Sam walked past at that moment rolling his eyes and making a beeline for Rhodey. Bruce smiled and followed. 

"We weren't _that_ bad," Steve insisted, moving next to her. Gently placing a hand on his cheek, Vivian shook her head and laughed as Steve whispered, "Okay so maybe we _were_ that bad." 

"If you three are done flirting, we have a location," Tony said, the volume of his voice nearing a shout. 

Steve rolled his eyes and squeezed her side before heading over, "All right, where is it?" 

Tony nodded to the screen, "After we got Jarvis working again, we started running through the different factories. Rhodey pointed out that we need to be absolutely certain we're going to the right place and so that meant hacking into the security cameras of each place to get a look around at what's going on. More than one of them got an extreme amount of security. Seems my creation is smart and took over multiple factories to throw us off. And...the security was good." 

"Do we know if this footage is on a delay of any kind?" Natasha asked. 

Tony shook his head, "It's not. My creation is good, but is still my creation so I figured out how to make it look like the only people who are watching the footage is the program itself. It...took some time." 

"Can you bring up the schematics?" Steve asked. Tony nodded and brought them up on a screen alongside the feed. Steve shook his head and sighed, "Unfortunately, the element of surprise is unlikely to happen. Your creation is plugged into the security system and it took you hours just to hide you being there. That means that the element of surprise isn't going to be on our side. Our only option is to try and blanket the place as much as possible. Cutting the power, even for a little bit will also be helpful. Would that be possible?" 

Tony frowned and then sighed, "I could _hypothetically_ create something that would give us a blackout, but the AI program would just reboot itself and we'd get _maybe_ a minute. Not enough time to do anything." 

Natasha stepped forward and nodded to the camera feeds, "How long would it take your program to figure out that external cameras had been looped?" Everyone paused and she explained, "If we had the external cameras looped, we could get everyone setup around the building, block off some of the exits even. It wouldn't make the fight inside easy, but it'd give us a good footing." 

"She's right," Steve said. "Currently as long as they have eyes on the outside, this is going to be extremely risky and dangerous." 

Tony stared at the screens for a bit before he grinned, "We can do it. Cap, how much time do you think it would take us all to get into whatever formation or squadron that you're wanting us to do?" 

"Fifteen minutes to approach and cover the different aspects of the building. Current plan is that we'll split up the exits equally and then at a designated time, we'll all enter. We'll delay our comms until we're inside just in case they're being scanned for. Once in, you and Natasha will keep your creation busy. The rest of us will try to reason with the twins." 

"I could get us that time. I just need about thirty minutes to do some prep work and then I'll be ready to go." 

"All right," Steve said. "You heard the man, we're in the air in thirty minutes unless anyone else needs prep time that's longer. Does anyone need longer?" Everyone shook their heads and went their separate ways. Heading into the elevator with Steve and Bucky, she smiled when Steve managed to wait until the doors closed before he asked, "You and Bruce okay?" 

"We're fine. He gave an unnecessary apology to me about his overreaction to the twins, so you can relax for at least this elevator ride," Vivian said, smiling up at Steve. 

Steve blushed, "I'm allowed to worry about you." 

"I know and I love you, but you can't protect me from every person who disagrees with me." 

"Pretty sure he's going to try," Bucky teased. 

"Bucky," Steve sighed. 

" _Steve_ ," Bucky mocked. 

Vivian rolled her eyes and laughed, "How about all three of us are tied when it comes to being absolute brats about each other?" Dodging Bucky's grabbing hands, Vivian headed onto their floor once they reached it, "We can play grab ass after we do this mission." 

"Promises, promises," Bucky teased and kissed her cheek. 

As he sauntered off, Vivian went to follow, but then paused as Steve gently took her hand. She wasn't surprised to see him looking as anxious as he did when she turned toward him. He squeezed her hand as he said, "I know you do everything you can to stay safe, and it's wrong of me to ask you to promise this, but just..." 

"Promise I'll stay safe?" 

"Yeah. You've gotten injured a lot lately and I—" 

"I get it," Vivian smiled. "I really do. I haven't exactly made things easy on either of you the past...several cases. My goal is to get to the twins without getting maimed in the process." 

"I'm holding you to that." 

Shaking her head as Steve went for his costume and shield, Vivian got changed and then came back out. Her own outfit had gotten some _slight_ updates from Stark, not that he'd actually told her that he'd done them. She knew her own gear though and could tell when it got upgrades. To the naked eye, it didn't look like it was different at all, but she knew better. She could _feel_ the difference. 

"Take these." Glancing over, Vivian sighed when Bucky held out a set of knives. She scrunched up her nose as Bucky shook his head, "It's not what you think. You already have spots you can conceal knives on your suit. I'm not asking you to stab these kids. I sure as fuck don't want that, but if something goes wrong and they end up with backup that's coming to hurt you, these will help." 

"Fine, I'll carry them to make you feel better, but I'm _not_ going to use them," Vivian sighed. She then rolled her eyes when he kissed her cheek. 

"Thank you." 

"Sure," Vivian laughed, rolling her eyes. She then headed into the elevator and leaned against the wall, inhaling sharply as both Steve and Bucky walked in together. When they both stared at her, she shrugged and grinned, "What? Am I not allowed to enjoy the view? The outfits are good." 

"Yours is better," Bucky grinned. 

Vivian scoffed and shook her head, glancing up at the ceiling. The elevator ride was quicker than she'd hoped. As soon as the door opened to the hangar where the jet was kept, Steve was double checking the gear and making sure they had everything they needed for the trip. Tony was discussing things with Sam, Rhodey, Clint, Bruce, and Clint. Sam and Natasha seemed to be quietly reassuring Pepper. 

"You worried?" Bucky whispered. 

"A little bit, but not because of this team. Steve's an amazing leader and I have no doubt that the formation he puts together will be good. I trust this team to do their jobs." 

"Then what is it?" 

"There's a lot of variables that we don't know about. And I hate to admit it, but despite my hopes for the twins, they are still a...variable that makes this dangerous. The boy has superspeed which means that even though we'll cover as much of it as we can, it's going to be tricky, and that's before I admit that I can't even begin to guess the extent to the girl's powers." 

Vivian sighed as Bucky pulled her close. She closed her eyes as he kissed her temple and whispered, "It's going to be okay." 

"You don't know that." 

"I know that we survived what no one else ever have and these kids aren't killers. They're just scared. All we gotta do is give you a moment to talk to them. We can do this." 

"Okay," Vivian whispered, taking a deep breath. Bucky squeezed her side. 

Steve cleared his throat and Vivian moved closer, watching carefully as he explained, "I've talked to most of you about the plan, but just to make sure we're all on the same page, I'm going to go over it one last time. We're going to arrive outside the range of the cameras, but close enough to make our final approach in a small vehicle. Before we approach, Tony and Natasha will make sure we have a solid fifteen minutes to get into position and infiltrate the location. The building has multiple entrances. The south entrance will be guarded by Bruce. Hopefully Bruce will just be a lookout, but if people approach or the people inside attempt to flee, that particular door will be blocked in a very literal sense. It will also be the only door that's left unlocked once we enter." 

Everyone nodded and he continued, "Rhodey and Clint will take the balconies and sneak in to keep an eye from the walkways. While they're entering on that level, Tony and I will be entering in through the North entrance, Sam and Natasha will be entering through the west, and Vivian and Bucky will be going in through the east. One person from each team already has the codes to the doors we'll be entering. Tony and Natasha are rigging the doors to change their access codes temporarily so the actual one can't be used to get out. Once inside, Sam and I will be protecting Natasha and Tony as they try to prevent the factory from finishing what it's building. If we get in before our coms come back online, hold your position until they do so that we can make sure everyone's in place before we reveal that we're there." 

"And the wicked witch and wizard of the east?" Tony quipped. 

Vivian rolled her eyes and smiled softly as Steve sent Tony a look before he said, "Bucky and Vivian will be talking down the twins with assistance from Rhodey and Clint. I expect the four of you especially to coordinate. Rhodey and Clint will be able to spot patterns and give you warning if you're being approached from behind. Likewise, if they disappear from the first floor, Vivian and Bucky will give you warnings as well. Are there any questions?" 

Tony raised his hand and Steve deadpanned, "If you're about to ask if afterward you're able to drop a house on my significant others, do remember that in this joke, Sam and Natasha are on the west entrance, can kick your ass, and are fine with water being thrown at them." Tony opened his mouth to ask something and Steve sighed, "Wizard of Oz came out in 1939, Tony, of course I've seen it." 

Tony put his faceplate back down and Steve asked, "Are there any _actual_ questions?" Everyone shook their heads and Steve nodded before announcing, "Good, then let's go." 

Vivian was surprised that Tony joined them on the jet. She'd half-expected him to just fly himself there. He did stand though, refusing to strap into one of the seats. She couldn't see his expression, but she had a feeling that he was actually more nervous than he wanted people to know. The fact that the trip there was silent solidified that _everyone_ was nervous. She herself swapped between meditating and thinking through everything she'd been told about things like telepathy by Jean and Charles. She knew she couldn't rely on things like that entirely though since she still didn't know the girls actual powers. She just had to try to protect herself as best as she could. Going back through the training the X-Men gave her in her mind was still better than sitting and doing nothing though. 

"We're here," Bucky whispered. 

Vivian nodded and got up, leaving the jet. Natasha had a tablet on her and was working rapidly on it while talking quietly to Tony. After a few minutes, Natasha closed her tablet while announcing, "We figured out a way to hide what we did for even longer, so we bought ourselves twenty minutes." 

Everyone split off, heading to their designated spots. Bucky input the code on the panel and they both sighed in relief as it gave a friendly beep, unlocking the door. Vivian carefully opened the door as Bucky stood behind her, aiming his weapon. They then slipped into the building and the door locked behind them. Slipping out away from the door, Vivian kept her footsteps light as she looked around. 

"No sight of the boy, but the girl is 100 feet to your right." 

Vivian nodded and held up a hand signal so Clint knew she got his message. She moved quietly down the hall. She could feel Bucky just a few steps behind her and was grateful. It was comforting. 

"Actually, our boy just stepped out. He's two hundred feet in the opposite direction." 

Glancing back at Bucky, they both signaled to Rhodey that they heard him. Bucky squeezed her hand before he turned and walked toward where the boy was spotted. Shaking her head, Vivian sped up her movement just a bit. As she approached, she frowned as Natasha cautioned quietly, "Be careful. Tony's keeping the program busy, but from what I've managed to piece together in between trying to shut this down, there's been a trail of bodies that we didn't know about. It doesn't look like the twins did it, but I'm still looking into it." 

Vivian raised her hand, but didn't respond, and Clint whispered, "Message received." 

She was crouched down on the ground, her hair in her face. Taking a deep breath, Vivian slowed her steps until she was absolutely silent. She stayed a couple feet away before she used her abilities to pin her arms to her sides. 

The girl turned toward her and glared, hissing out, " _You_. Let me go." 

"Sorry, can't do that," Vivian whispered, moving close and placing a hand over the girl's mouth. "Also, sorry about this, but you need to listen to me. I don't know what Stark's program told you, but we can help you. We can go after Hydra together the _right_ way. You don't have to—" 

Vivian trailed off, confused when she felt the girl smile beneath her hand. Those dark eyes also went _red_ and then red tendrils went up her arm. Vivian tried to pull away, but found she couldn’t move at all. She opened her mouth to say something and nothing came out. Nothing came out. She could feel panic filling her. She needed to move. She needed to get away. She needed to— 

"Hey, you okay?" 

Vivian shook her head and glanced around the apartment before looking back at Bucky. Sunlight poured through the window and she smiled, leaning up and kissing him gently. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling back to tease, "Welcome back." 

"Oh, did I go somewhere?" Vivian laughed. 

"You tell me," Bucky laughed, his nose scrunching up. "Tried getting your attention more than once. No response." 

"Sorry, I'm just a little tired. I could have sworn that we were...I don't know," Vivian said, glancing around the apartment. Bucky's eyebrow arched and she frowned, "Wait, where are we? This doesn't look like Stark's place." 

"We've been through this, so pretending you don't remember isn't going to change what's happening," Bucky said, his brow furrowing in a glare. 

"Bucky," Vivian whispered, taking a step toward him. His glare deepened and she whispered, "I really don't remember what's going on. _Where are we_? _Where's Steve_?" 

"Fine," Bucky rolled his eyes. "We'll play it your way. _Steve_ is back at the tower. We're in a safehouse. I told him that I'd make sure you were safely here before I came back." 

"But—" 

"Fucking Hell, you're supposed to be smarter than this, Vivian," Bucky scoffed. He then ran a hand over his face and sighed, "Fine, remember the last mission we all did together?" 

"We were going after..." Vivian frowned. "I don't know. I don't remember." 

"Fuck. Fine, we were going after Hydra. You fucked up. You hurt _a lot_ of people." 

Vivian blinked back tears and wrapped her arms around herself, "But...it was an accident, right? I didn't...how badly did I hurt people?" 

"You killed them," Bucky whispered, moving closer and leaning toward her. 

"I—I don't..." Vivian's bottom lip quivered and her throat tightened. Tears slipped down her cheeks as she choked out, "I don't understand. Were they Hydra?" 

"You tried claiming they were at first, but it didn't Tony long to figure what kind of monster you are, what kind you've always been. You chose random _innocent_ people, and you just killed them." 

"No. No, I wouldn't do that," Vivian shook her head. "I _wouldn't_." 

"Steve and I used to think that. We used to believe in you, but now we know that's bullshit. Everyone knows it's bullshit. Putting you in prison isn't an option though, we both know that." 

"Bucky..." 

Bucky grabbed her hair and pulled. Vivian winced as he leaned close and whispered into her ear, "This place is yours for the rest of your life. No one's going to come here, do you understand? _No one_." 

"Please don't leave me," Vivian begged. "Bucky, please. I don't know how this happened, but I wouldn't kill innocent people like that. I wouldn't do this. There has to be some explanation—" 

"The explanation is that we see what you are and we're done with you. Steve couldn't even look at you. You disgust me, but I figured if I could survive everything you did to me while you were with Hydra then I could do this." Vivian shook her head, but then took in a shuddering breath as Bucky shook his head and chuckled, "You have _no idea_ how fucking amazing it is to finally be rid of you after all these years." 

"Don't say that," Vivian whispered. "Please, don't say that." 

"You're lucky I don't say a lot worse," Bucky scoffed. 

Vivian could only watch in horror as he left. The door shut and she fell to her knees. She couldn't believe it. They were gone. They were really gone. Forcing herself up again, her legs shook as she tried the doorknob. It wouldn't budge. Her hand slid down the door and she sank with it, pressing her forehead against the door as she sobbed. Squeezing her eyes shut, she gripped at her hair, tugging at it. 

"Hey, look at me. Vivian. Look at me." 

Vivian opened her eyes and looked up, frowning as she saw Clint crouched in front of her, "Clint...what are you doing here?" 

"Well, turns out no one could find you, and then I found you locked in this closet. You wanna tell me why _you_ are in here?" 

"A closet? I wasn't—" Vivian looked around and froze when she saw cleaning supplies and other things like that. "I was...I was somewhere else. Bucky told me I killed people. He said he didn't want anything to do with me. He said Steve couldn't even look at me." 

Clint sighed, running a hand over his face before holding out his hand. Looking at it, she cautiously took the ear piece as he explained, "That's yours. Natasha found it in the area you disappeared from." 

"The girl," Vivian whispered. 

"Yeah. Seems she got the upper hand in your fight and we're not sure what all she did to you, but whatever you saw wasn't real, all right?" 

"Where are they?" 

"Gone. We delayed production, but the speedy one kept knocking us over. And once the girl got to you, she started picking off people one by one. Unfortunately, the robot got built. I came to find you so we can all regroup. The others were looking for you too, so c'mon. Take the earpiece and let's get going." 

Vivian accepted it back, but before she put it back into her ear, she stared at it and whispered, "Is this my fault?" 

" _Fuck no_. Absolutely not. You've had your brain messed with more than most, Viv, so I don't have to tell you that it's rough. Having your brain get messed with by magic is...never fun though. No matter who had gone up to her, she was going to do this to them." 

"Did she do it to you?" 

"No, but not for lack of trying. She'd come up behind me, but got stopped before she could do anything. Bucky actually stopped her. I think I owe him a beer for that." 

"That's good," Vivian whispered. She fiddled with the earpiece but still didn't put it in. She took a deep breath, trying to blink away the tears. 

"Steve and Bucky are worried about you. All the shit that you saw? None of it was real, and it sure as fuck wasn't true. I think your boyfriends would throw themselves into an active volcano before they'd just abandon you, all right? Now c'mon. Sam's not gonna be able to keep those two resting on the plane if you don't show up or at least answer soon." 

"They're on the jet already?" 

Clint nodded, "Took some doing, mostly blackmail to be honest, but they're both fine. C'mon. We didn't stop Ultron, but we think we know where they're going." 

"Ultron?" 

"Yeah, Tony's project named itself and chose...that...for some reason," Clint laughed, standing up and holding out his hand. "C'mon. We're going to need all of us if we're going to get this done." 

Vivian accepted Clint's hand and nodded as he pulled her up. She was surprised though when he hugged her and whispered, "They're not going to leave you." 

"Thanks, Clint. I owe you one." 

"Nah," Clint laughed. "Coffee at most." 

"I am positive that we both own coffee machines, so that's very doable." 

"Speak for yourself, I broke mine before we left," Clint laughed. 

"Of course you did," Vivian said, smiling softly. She rolled her eyes as Clint wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the building. Truthfully, the man was half-carrying her, but it wasn't an issue for him considering he was muscular and nearly as tall as Steve. 

"Your head's going to be a little messed up for a bit, but you'll get through it," Clint whispered. 

"Thanks," Vivian whispered, still feeling more than a little embarrassed by her failure. She knew it wasn't really rational, but she couldn't help it. And that meant getting back onto the jet felt less like a temporary stop and more like complete failure. At least it did until Steve had her in his arms the second she stepped into view. 

"Thank God," Steve whispered. His arms wrapped around her and he pressed his forehead to hers, taking deep breaths. 

"Welcome back, kitten," Bucky quietly said. 

Glancing over at him, Vivian smiled as they were both then pulled into Bucky's arms. Pressing her face against Bucky's chest, she grinned when Bucky did lift her up and carry her over to a quieter section of the jet as everyone else mostly kept quiet and to themselves. As soon as they sat down, Steve gently tilted her chin up and whispered, "Are you okay?" 

For a moment Vivian thought about nodding, but the lie felt too big and as she choked back tears, she whispered, "No, I'm not." 

"Hey, shhh, we've got you," Steve whispered, pulling her close. 

Bucky rubbed her back and she whispered, "Did..." 

"Yeah, the girl got to a lot of us," Steve whispered. "The images she put into our heads were rough, but none of it was real." 

"I don't think she put anything there," Vivian said, wiping away her tears. 

"What do you mean?" Bucky asked, pushing her hair back. 

"I think the fears were ours. I think it was things we're afraid of, deep down. I think she just...pulled them to the surface," Vivian sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. Both men paled and sighed as well, sitting down next to her. Nodding, Vivian asked, "So what'd you two picture?" 

For a moment, they all sat quietly, so Vivian shook her head and confessed, "In my vision, I couldn't remember what had happened, but Bucky, you were there, and you said I'd killed a lot of people, a lot of innocent people, so neither you nor Steve wanted to see me again. So you then locked me in the room and my understanding was that I was going to be there for...most likely the rest of time." 

"Viv..." Steve whispered. 

"You know I would never do that, right?" Bucky whispered. "I would never just leave you somewhere." 

"I know that," Vivian sighed. "It's just...fears aren't exactly rational." 

"In mine, I became the soldier again and then couldn't come out of it until I'd killed both of you," Bucky choked out. "Neither one of you would fight back. Just begged me to come back and—" Bucky cleared his throat and stared at the ground, "It wasn't good." 

"We would never let that happen to you," Steve whispered. 

Bucky scoffed, "Which part? The part where my brainwashing got triggered again or the part where you just let me kill you?" 

"Definitely the first part," Vivian sighed. "Although I promise to knock you out before you kill Steve." 

"Or you," Bucky stressed. 

"Fine, I'll consider having some semblance of a survival instinct." 

Bucky rolled his eyes, "How generous of you." 

The two of them then glanced over at Steve. He was staring off into the distance. After a few moments, he whispered, "I was supposed to keep everyone safe, and basically the whole team died. You two died in my arms." 

"Well, it almost certainly wasn't your fault, but we all definitely had a shitty time today," Vivian said, tilting her head back and staring at the roof of the plane. She took a couple deep breaths before she said, "I haven't changed my mind about helping that kid." 

"I didn't think you would," Steve said cautiously. 

"Neither did I," Bucky added. 

"Yeah, but some of them, even if they started to believe me, might not believe me anymore," Vivian said, glancing at everyone else. Tony looked shaken to the core. Bruce and Rhodey were sitting on either side of him, whispering to him. Sam and Clint were flying the plane while Natasha sat by them. To most people, Natasha wouldn't look any different, but Vivian could see how tense she was. Sam also looked tense, but seemed to be able to hold it together. 

"They're tougher than they look," Steve said, taking her hand in his. Staring at their laced fingers, Vivian smiled as he brought her hand up and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. "I'm not saying they're ready to be best friends with that kid, but I don't think this was enough to prevent them from ever wanting to help her." 

"Are you sure about that?" 

"Natasha was spying on Tony when they first met. She was reporting directly to Nick Fury at the time." 

"What's your point?" 

"My point is that he trusts her enough to have her work alongside him. The most he does is just make jokes about it when he's bored, so it'll take time, but the twins can get there too." 

"He mostly tolerates my presence now," Bucky added. "And I killed his parents." 

" _Bucky_ ," Steve and Vivian both sighed. 

Bucky grinned and Vivian rolled her eyes, but then watched as Steve squeezed her hand once more before standing up. She held onto his hand until he sent her a soft smile. At that point she let go, but then grinned over at Bucky as he grabbed her other hand and kissed her cheek. Steve then moved into the middle of the plane. Before he could say anything, Tony sighed and snapped, "Save the heroic speech, Cap. We all know that was a disaster. Those mutants kicked our asses." 

"Tony," Steve sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you and say that mission was ideal, but we are in a better position than we were before this mission. We know more about those kids and about Ultron." 

"Oh, so you're saying what happened to us is a _good_ thing?" Tony snapped. 

"That's not what I said and you know it," Steve sighed. "The way those kids defended themselves was...unpleasant, but they could have easily caused us lasting harm or killed us while we were incapacitated and they _didn't_."

Tony scoffed and stared at his feet, but seemed slightly less hostile. Vivian couldn't help but smile when Bruce nodded, "Steve's right. At every step of this process, those kids could have done awful things. They could have taken over an existing factory and forced the people there to work for them. They chose an abandoned factory. They could have kidnapped people to do their work for them and they didn't. Everything we've seen shows that they want to take down Hydra without hurting civilians. That's their goal. Whether that's Ultron's ultimate goal is another story, but they seem to want Hydra gone from the world, but especially the area they're from." 

"So you think I should thank them because they only tortured me instead of killing me?" Tony laughed. "No thanks." 

"Tony, you became Iron Man specifically to get _your_ weapons out of enemy hands. You caused a lot more damage in that campaign than these kids have during this. _I've_ done a lot more damage than they have," Bruce pointed out, causing Tony to wince. "These kids...they just want Hydra to leave them alone." 

"So what's our new plan?" Sam called from the cockpit. 

Tony rolled his eyes and sighed, "Hold on, I have to start to decrypt the location with Natasha's help." 

"I thought you already had it?" Clint said, glancing over his shoulder. 

"I do. We got the data out, but before I could read it, it became encrypted," Tony complained. 

"Should we head back to the tower?" Vivian asked cautiously. 

Tony and Natasha exchanged a glance before Tony explained, "I honestly don't know. The tower would have the best access to everything, but then that also gives the best access to Ultron. It's not like he would have trouble finding the tower, and I can't say for certain that he didn't leave a backdoor into my systems there." 

"Wouldn't he have had time to put in a backdoor onto our gear when he encrypted the information?" Steve asked curiously. 

Natasha shook her head, "No. The gear we brought was stuff that was offline when Ultron was, well, born for lack of a better term. And this kind of encryption he did was complicated so fighting off both of us and encrypting slowed him down where he would have focused on encrypting it. It's a similar encryption to the one that was on the drive Fury gave you back in DC. And that means together we can, even with problems, get through it in about six minutes." 

"The problem with that time table is that it'll take Ultron less than five to get back into my system in the tower. And most likely he's starting to branch out to the rest of the city in case we go somewhere close," Tony sighed, standing up and glaring. "So unless someone here has a safe house I don't know about, we're stuck." 

Clint perked up at that and glanced back, "Oh, I've got places. Are we looking for a more centrally located city location or are we wanting a more country vibe?" 

Tony frowned and narrowed his eyes, "What are you, the new host of an HGTV show? How the fuck do you have multiple properties?" 

"I play a lot of cards." 

"Are you saying you've _won_ buildings?" 

"Only one of them was won directly in a card game," Clint sighed. "The others were bought with card winnings. Including the building Steve's lawyer's in." 

"You bought his building?" Steve asked incredulously. " _Why_?" 

Clint shrugged, "We were having drinks and he mentioned the landlord for that building sucked, so I bought the building and fixed the stuff that he'd been upset about." 

"Since when do you have drinks with our lawyer?" Vivian asked curiously. 

"Since I figured out your lawyer is Daredevil and that he makes an amazing partner for hustling pool. I'm deaf, he's blind, we can destroy some wallets." 

"You hired a vigilante to defend your superhero boyfriend and girlfriend in court?" Tony scoffed. 

Steve rolled his eyes, "No, I hired a lawyer who moonlights as a vigilante." 

"Oh, sure, because _that's_ the important difference," Rhodey scoffed. 

Vivian rolled her eyes and sighed, "We can harass Clint about the weird ways he makes friends _after_ we take down Tony's even weirder pet project." 

"Hey!" Tony squawked. 

Vivian ignored him and focused on Clint, "What's the country property and does anyone know about it?" 

Clint wiggled his hand back and forth, "Natasha knows about it, the people who live there know about it, and Fury knew about it, but never included it in any files. Coulson probably knows about it, but wouldn't put it on the books either. It's...more personal than the others. It's private." 

"How private?" Tony demanded. 

"As in miles away from anyone else," Natasha said. "Although we need to figure out where we're going, because I need to tell Thor where to meet us." 

"Wait, you know how to get in touch with Thor?" Sam asked. 

Natasha gave Sam a withering stare as she retorted, "I expected a question that stupid from the others, but not from you." A chorus of disgruntled protests followed that comment, but Vivian laughed. Or at least she did until Natasha side-eyed her and jeered, "I don't know why you're laughing. You're just as bad as your boyfriends are when it comes to being distracted to the point of idiocy." 

Vivian flipped Natasha off, causing Sam to snort and face forward again as Natasha glared over at him. Shaking her head, Vivian then said, "I say we vote on it. I think if Clint believes this place is safe then we should go there. Besides, I'm curious about what makes this country home so important to Clint." 

Tony sighed and grumbled, "Fine, all in favor of going to the tower, keep your hand down, but if you want to go to the weird country home of our archer, raise your hand." 

Surprisingly, the only person who kept their hand down was Rhodey. When everyone stared at him, he shrugged, "Sorry, just the idea of going into a location we don't know anything about seems more dangerous to me than the place we do know about. Besides, how do we even know their internet will be secure?" 

"Oh, right, sorry," Clint said, "First the internet security was put in by the FBI and then after the whole hydra shit went down, it got an upgrade by SHIELD and then by Natasha." 

"Okay you are going to have to explain that," Rhodey insisted. 

Clint sighed, "I have a brother. His name is Barney—" 

Clint got cut off by Tony's outburst of cackling laughter, "Your brother is named _Barney_? Your brother is named _Barney Barton_? Holy fucking shit, someone pinch me. Is it Christmas? Is it my birthday? God, does he love the color purple as much as you do?" 

"Wow, Tony, you really dug deep and came up with brand new jokes that no one else has ever thought of. I don't know how you do it," Clint deadpanned. He then rolled his eyes, "Anyway, my older brother Barney worked for the FBI up until the DC incident. He'd done a lot of the more hands on work for them and sometimes even went undercover, so he didn't want his family anywhere near it." 

Clint took a deep breath and glanced away from everyone as he continued, "When Hydra came out of the woodwork, the supervising agent in charge of him ended up being a Hydra agent, so my brother, protecting himself, ended up killing him. The FBI wasn't really fond of him for a lot of reasons, and so...I got him work in the new SHIELD. He's not directly in Coulson's dream team or whatever, but he does report to him now. He still doesn't want his wife or his kids to be easy to locate though, and so the safe house remains. I stop by and help out Laura and the kids whenever I can just to make sure they're okay because I know Barney can't." 

Rhodey sighed, "Fine, doesn't make a difference, but might as well make it unanimous." 

"And I'll let Thor know where we're going," Natasha said, already on her phone. 

Everyone was silent for a few moments until Tony asked, "So...your brother and the rest of them..." 

"Yeah?" Clint asked, glancing back. 

" _Are_ they a happy family?" Tony asked, feigning seriousness. 

"I'm going to push you out of this plane." 

Sam snorted and Vivian shook her head as she saw him give a hidden thumbs up to Tony. Tony looked extremely pleased with himself. He leaned back in his seat, looking more relaxed than she'd seen him in a while musing to himself, "First Mr. Rogers and now Barney." 

"For a moment I thought he'd forgotten about calling me that," Steve whispered. 

"You should have known better," Vivian laughed. She herself started to relax though. They had a place to hide out and more importantly, they had a plan. They could do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, I'm so sorry for being a week late. My laptop is still not fixed and it really bummed me out more than I thought it would. That all culminated in my not being able to write for a hot minute and then when it came time to actually post, I didn't have anything ready on Saturday night. And trying to force it just made the writing bad and I was starting to hate the chapter, so when Sunday came and I had the same problem, I thought maybe I could make it work for Monday, but just...couldn't. Hence this being a full week late. I'm hoping this won't happen again. I don't like to be late without warning y'all first.
> 
> In terms of content of this chapter, I decided to change how the visions work. I didn't really think the visions in AOU were more than just cool ideas someone had, but didn't particularly make sense to me, so I decided that if you're trying to knock down your enemy, bringing their own fears forward makes sense. I also decided Thor wasn't going to be there yet because I felt like it, to be honest. That's all I got for that one.
> 
> Oh and yes, Clint Barton has a brother named Barney. I can't remember if he's younger or older, but in this series, he's the older brother. Oh and it is canonical to the comics that he was an FBI agent, but his supervising agent being Hydra and him killing that person is something I made up. I also made up him switching over to SHIELD. As far as I know, other than the FBI, he's only ever been with the 'Dark Avengers' which aren't gonna show up in this series. Also, while Laura is canonically someone who married Clint in the comics, I really didn't like the shoehorned in Clint/Laura stuff in the movies. Plus, in the comics, Natasha straight up murders Laura and the kids so I'm fine with ignoring canon on that. I'm also just too big of a Clintasha shipper to deviate from this plan I've done to replace canon.
> 
> Oh and as a reminder, this is what my Pietro looks like pretty much, although mine's younger this guy probably is:  
> Bálint Jaskó  
>   
> I have two different options for Wanda though, teenage versions of one of these obviously:  
> Tatiana Eve Marie  
>   
> Franciska Farkas  
> 
> 
> I'm partial to Tatiana over Franciska, but both are dope options if you wanna picture someone. I think Tatiana might be my favorite just because she already seems to dress like how I picture Wanda dressing.
> 
> I still haven't cast Barney or Laura. Really the only thing Barney's gotta do is look like he could be the older brother of Chris Pine, so I'm not too worried about it. Laura can look like literally anyone. If anyone has any preferences for how either of those characters look, let me know.


	12. Twelve: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: discussions of attempted mass murder
> 
> Per usual, if I missed a warning or a tag, I deeply apologize and please let me know so I can correct the mistake.
> 
> This chapter is close to 7.6k words long so hopefully that length makes up for the time between the chapters. I am so sorry I missed last week.

"All right, when we get in there, everyone try their best to not be colossal dicks, all right? Laura's not just my sister-in-law, she's my friend. Also, Lila and Cooper are young, but they're not stupid, so keep the world ending talk to a minimum. If any of you upset them, Laura will kick my ass and then when my brother finds out I upset his family, he will shoot me," Clint insisted, standing in front of the group, barring anyone from leaving the plane. 

"I thought you and your brother put a ban on shooting each other after the Thanksgiving fiasco of 2013?" Natasha asked curiously. 

"We did with the caveat that if I upset his family, he could shoot me," Clint shrugged. 

"What was your caveat?" Bucky asked curiously, surprising most of the plane. When everyone glanced at him, Bucky shrugged, "I have siblings. If you gave him that caveat, you had one of your own, I'm curious as to what it takes for you to be able to shoot him." 

Clint grinned, "I get to shoot him if his dumb ass doesn't check in often enough." He then sighed and nodded toward Natasha, "She gets to shoot both of us if she just feels like it." 

Natasha stared at her nails as she sighed, "It's actually getting kind of boring keeping up with that, so I am going to teach Lila." 

Clint closed his eyes and sighed, grumbling under his breath, "Never should have let you meet them." 

Bucky knew Clint didn't mean that though. He could tell Clint was thoroughly entertained by the idea. Steve cleared his throat and Bucky glanced over as he asked, "Are they going to be okay with us just showing up like this?" 

"Absolutely," Natasha said, standing up. "Between her brother-in-law being an Avenger and her husband being a SHIELD agent, Laura knew something like this was a possibility." She then stood up and sighed, "Clint, we should get going. Thor should be arriving soon and we don't want _that_ entrance to be how Laura finds out about this. She's generous, but not _that_ generous." 

Clint cringed and nodded, "Good point." 

Glancing at everyone on the plane, Bucky frowned as he looked at Vivian. She looked tense and deep in thought. He wasn't even sure if she'd listened to a single word that had been said. As everyone started to leave, she didn't even move. Slipping over to her side, he placed a hand on the small of her back, feeling even worse when for just a moment, she tensed up even further. "It's okay, we're just getting off the plane," he whispered. 

Vivian nodded, relaxing as she moved forward. Steve glanced back at them and he didn't have to say anything. Bucky knew what Steve wanted to know and he nodded. Upon first glance of the country home that Clint had mentioned, it just looked like a regular house. A large, extremely nice house, but not necessarily unusual either. And then he took another glance at it and he realized that it had been built with security in mind. The windows looked like they could hold off a lot more than a strong wind. The place was fortified. 

"Oh and if you guys could take off your shoes when you enter the house, Laura would really appreciate that," Clint called over his shoulder as they approached the front door. He then opened the door and headed inside. There was more quiet talking that Bucky decided to not eavesdrop on. By the time he made it into the house, the woman he was assuming was Laura was staring at Clint with an exasperated grin. 

"I heard this one dragged you lot into a whole heap of trouble," Laura said, her faint southern drawl more than a little endearing. 

"This time they dragged _me_ into a heap of trouble," Clint said defensively. 

Laura snorted, "That's the lie you tried when you had the mob after you." 

"You had the mob after you?" Bruce asked incredulously. 

"Who do you think I won my building from?" Clint scoffed. 

Bruce paused and then shook his head. Bucky smiled as Laura laughed, "You're telling people that place is yours? We both know that place is Kate's in all but name. She's the one that keeps it going. You might as well sign it over to her." 

"You only say that because she's competent and I'm not," Clint grumbled. 

Natasha smiled, "I'll make sure to ask Kate if she wants the building." 

"Thank you, Nat," Laura said, beaming. She then pointed at Clint, "See? This is why she's your better half." 

"Yeah, yeah," Clint laughed. He then nodded, waved his hand toward the group and said, "This is the other competent half. I'm the pretty half." 

"You're really bad at fractions," Vivian commented casually. 

"Fractions are why we keep Tony around," Clint said with a grin. 

"I bankroll this entire team," Tony scoffed. 

"Fractions and money, which sometimes involve fractions," Clint amended. Tony rolled his eyes and stared at the ceiling. 

"Thank you so much for opening your home to us," Steve said, stepping forward and holding out his hand. "We promise to do our best to stay out of your hair." 

"If Laura gets a bigger crush on you than she already has, my brother will shoot you," Clint commented casually only to yelp when Laura punched his arm after quickly shaking Steve's hand. 

"A little hypocritical coming from you," Laura retorted, her cheeks bright red. "Besides, he was being _polite_. He has _manners_." 

"Fine," Clint sighed. "Laura, meet Bruce, Tony, Rhodey, Sam, Steve, Vivian, and Bucky. Natasha you already know because of how often you text." 

"It's important for my mental health to speak to actual adults in between herding the rabid children that are the rest of this team," Natasha said. "Speaking of which, Thor's going to show up any second, so someone needs to go outside to greet him." 

"Thor is going to be here?" Laura asked in a faux casual manner. Bucky couldn't help but smile at that, especially as Clint rolled his eyes. 

"I'll go," Steve said, heading out of the house. Vivian quickly followed. 

"I'll get started on actually solving this problem," Tony added. "Where can I hook up my gear?" 

"Basement," Clint added, nodding to a door. 

Natasha nodded and Bucky watched Bruce, Natasha, Rhodey, and Tony head into the basement. Clint and Laura headed off to the side, talking quietly again, leaving Bucky standing awkwardly with Sam. 

"You okay?" Sam asked, breaking the silence. "Figured you would have gone outside with Steve to greet Thor." 

"It's not a big deal. I'm just..." Bucky trailed off, staring at the floor. 

"Just trying to what? Come up with a reason for why you're not going out there that's not 'my brain got scrambled by a psychic and I've still got bad vibes from it'?" 

"I've been through worse," Bucky scoffed. 

"So?" Sam laughed. "So fucking what, man? What does that have to do with what you're going through _now_?" 

"I already told Viv and Steve what I saw. Vivian thinks it's shit from inside of us instead of stuff from that kid which I hate to admit makes a lot of sense." 

Sam nodded, "It does, and I am glad you three talked about it. Just remember not to close off after something like that. You don't wanna talk about _that_ specifically for a minute after that? That's fine, but don't distance yourself." 

Bucky nodded up toward the ceiling. He could faintly hear the sound of Clint laughing with a couple of kids and admitted, "Being around my sisters and everything that came along with that again meant I interacted with a couple of kids, but I'm also just...nervous around them still. Clint's a friend, and..." 

"You're worried you'll accidentally hurt them? That's normal," Sam said. "Even without your history or your arm, I sometimes worry about that. I'm a big dude. I can hurt _adults_ if I'm not careful. Just take deep breaths and remember not to throw the kids into the ceiling or something." 

Bucky rolled his eyes, but smiled, "I'm not a complete idiot, y'know." 

Sam made an 'eh' sound while moving his hand back and forth and laughing, "Jury's still out on that one." Bucky gave his coldest stare only to grumble when Sam just laughed harder, "Man, y'know, that shit would have worked on me back in DC, but I know better now. All that talk of ' _ooooh, Winter Soldier, he's an unkillable machine_ ' and ' _ooooh, Winter Soldier, he's a ghost story with dozens of assassinations_ ' and then I meet your white ass and all you are is angsty, the most obvious person on the planet, and lovesick beyond belief. Not necessarily in that order." 

Bucky shook his head, smiling softly. Glancing over at Sam, he then gently nudged him with his shoulder on his way outside. Sam laughed harder at that, but Bucky ended up being really damn glad he came outside since as he stepped onto the grass, a column of multi-colored lights slammed down into the ground near them. Steve and Vivian stood watching and within seconds, the lights went away, leaving Thor standing on a pattern burnt into the grass. Moving over to Vivian's side, Bucky blushed as Thor approached, a smile on his face as he announced, "Captain, Sergeant, and Vivian! It is wonderous to see you, my friends!" 

Bucky wondered if Thor's eyes actually twinkled or if he was just handsome enough where it seemed like they were as he approached and pulled Steve into a bear hug, lifting him off the ground. Steve chuckled and patted Thor on the back, "It's good to see you too." 

Bucky watched as Thor paused after he set Steve down. He was clearly offering a hug to Vivian with his body language but was letting Vivian step into the hug instead of stepping toward her. Vivian did step into the hug though, receiving the same large hug. Moving forward himself, Bucky smiled weakly and shrugged, "Might as well make it a complete set for you." 

Thor threw his head back and boomed with laughter after setting Vivian down before sweeping Bucky up into the same large hug. It was a nice hug. A little unusual to be lifted clear off his feet like this, but still nice. Patting Thor's back, he nodded as Thor frowned and then became serious as he said, "Alas, revelries seem to not be the agenda for today if my correspondence with Natasha is to be believed. How is everyone faring?" 

Steve sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Did Natasha tell you about Ultron?" 

Thor nodded, "Yes, and I share her concern. A creation such as this could cause untold damage if not kept in hand." 

"Yes, and the others are locating Ultron, as well as his assistants, as we speak," Steve added. He then nodded to the house, "This is Clint's sister-in-law's place. She lives here with her kids, but it's safe. We've made sure our people are okay, but if you need somewhere for Jane and Darcy, we can ask—" 

"Fear not, good friend, for I have already taken Jane and Darcy to Asgard," Thor interrupted with a smile. The smirk got more devious though as he said, "My Jane wished to learn more about our technology and our world whereas Darcy is there for...I believe she described it as ' _entertainment_ '." 

"That's good. Ultron's powerful, but I don't think he can open up..." Steve gestured to the scorched earth and then up to the sky while trailing off. 

Thor laughed, "No, no human technology can access Asgard, and Heimdall is unlikely to hear the pleas of Ultron worthy of consideration." He then frowned and tilted his head as he looked at them, "Although as your friend, you must know that I sense a deep sadness within the three of you, and I must inform you that you should always feel free to lessen your burden with me." 

"One of the assistants just has some psychic powers is all. She got into a bunch of our heads and...brought out some of our fears," Steve said quietly. 

"I see," Thor said quietly. "You have my sincerest apologies then. Mental anguish is pain I do not treat lightly. Is there anything I can do to assist you in your recovery?" 

Thor looked so damn earnest that Bucky couldn't help but smile. They all shook their heads and Steve shrugged before admitting, "It's a little rough, but I'm getting through it." He then glanced at Viv and then him. "I'm hoping these two are as well." 

Thor then looked at both of them. Vivian just shrugged and sighed, "Just working through some things." 

"Yeah, that about covers it," Bucky added when the three then turned to look at him. None of them really looked like they believed it, but then again, Thor and Steve hadn't really looked like they'd believed Viv either. 

Bucky was surprised though when Thor took his and Vivian's hands in his as he said, "If there is anything I can do for either of you, you need not hesitate to ask. You are my comrades, but most importantly, you are my friends." Thor then stood up straighter, "And as for the mission in question, you know that I am at your disposal for whatever strategy you have devised, good Captain." 

Steve chuckled, "For now we just have to stay out of Tony's way while he, with the help of Rhodey and Natasha, works on finding out where we're headed. So for now we're just trying to stay out of their hair and help out Laura wherever she needs it." 

Thor nodded, but then tilted his head and asked, "And the three of you. Are you certain there's nothing I can do to ease your pain?" 

"Thor, you're one of the best men I know, but I don't think Asgardians have a cure for this," Steve said, smiling softly. 

"Actually, there is something I'd like help with," Vivian said, glancing up nervously from the ground. 

"What is it?" Bucky asked quietly. He knew it was irrational to feel hurt that she'd go to Thor instead of him and Steve, but part of him still stung from the realization. 

"You need only ask," Thor said with a gentle smile. 

Vivian smiled, "Thanks. The people we fought with, the ones siding with Ultron now...I kind of went to bat for them. I convinced the team to take an approach to protect them when a good chunk of the team wanted to arrest those kids and give them up to the government or whatever." 

"Are they dangerous?" 

"Yes. They are dangerous. One has superspeed and the other...the one that hurt several of us, has a lot of psychic abilities. And I think whatever good will I fought for with those kids is basically gone. Tony didn't want to give them a chance before for sure, and that was before she fucked with our brains." 

Thor frowned, "How is it that I can help?" 

Vivian's shoulder slumped, "I don't know. Maybe I just want reassurance from someone who's not completely biased about this whole thing to help me bring in the kids without hurting them when the time comes." 

"We're not biased," Steve grumbled. 

Bucky side-eyed Steve, "I don't think a lie like that blatant deserves a real response, doll." 

Thor chuckled and Bucky wasn't really surprised when he pulled the three of them into a group hug. Hugging him back, he smiled when Thor pulled back and reassured them, "It is an honorable task you seek to bestow upon me, my lady." 

"You don't have to say yes," Vivian said. 

"That is true," Thor said, nodding. "Except no one is forcing me to do anything. I am _choosing_ to help you. I am choosing to help those children. I believe everyone deserves chances, especially when we are young." Thor chuckled and shook his head, "If I had been judged harshly for half the misdeeds of my youth, or even those of a few short years ago, I would not be here with you today." 

"You ever make people relive their worst fears?" Vivian asked weakly. 

"No," Thor said, shaking his head. "I was foolish. I disobeyed my father and demanded too much of my comrades. I courted battle and revenge as if they were mere trifles instead of grave endeavors. We journeyed to Jotunheim where I attacked the inhabitants for a mere slight. Friends were harmed, nearly killed, and I brought my people to the brink of war. It was that misdeed that temporarily lost me my hammer and sent me to Earth." 

"Wait, _that's_ why you were sent to Earth?" Glancing over as Clint strolled over, Bucky smiled when he arched an eyebrow and grinned, "Laura mentioned to me that you four have been out here group hugging for a while, so I decided to check to see if it was going to escalate to an orgy. If it is, I want in, but we have to take it somewhere the kids won't accidentally see us." 

Bucky smirked, shook his head, and stared at the ground while rolling his eyes. A blush spread across his cheeks though when Thor laughed heartily and teased, "If I had only met all of you before I met my Jane..." He then shook his head and smiled, "Clint, it would honor me if you would introduce me to the head of this wonderous household." 

Clint shook his head, "Yeah, I can introduce you to Laura. C'mon." 

Thor and Clint then headed back into the house and Bucky's eyes widened when as soon as they were out of earshot, Steve rounded on both of them and, in his damn Captain voice of all things, said, "I'm going to take this moment to make sure that both of you know that while I understand you both having the fears you have, they are absolute fucking lies. Do you understand me?" 

Bucky shrugged and Steve sighed before he continued, "Viv, I know you would never just kill innocent people, and I would never just abandon you anywhere. When I thought you'd died in that factory, I hated myself for not getting there soon enough. And when I found out you'd just been taken somewhere else, I hated that I hadn't been able to get you out of there. 

"And Buck...you've gotta know I'm never going to let those bastards use you like that again. I'm going to do whatever I can to help you so that you don't have to go through that ever again. No one deserves to lose control of themselves to someone else like that, least of all you. And somehow if I fail again at protecting you, we will find a way to stop you without killing you or letting you kill us." 

"And what about you?" Bucky said, stepping forward. Steve took a step back, but Bucky grabbed his wrist and stopped him. "You may be the 'Captain', but the responsibility of keeping us safe is all of ours. We're not your sidekicks. This is a team. Now I don't fucking plan on dying anytime soon, not when I just got my goddamn life back. And even if I die, that's not on you." 

"Ah, no mention of us?" Vivian teased. 

Bucky gave a side glance at Vivian as he retorted, "Said I just got my life back, didn't I? Who the fuck did you think I was talking about? Sure as hell wasn't me." 

"Sap," Steve said, smiling gently. 

Bucky smiled and shook his head, "Really? The guy who committed treason on the chance of saving his boyfriend and girlfriend is gonna call _me_ a sap?" 

"Clearly, the only one of us that isn't a sap is me," Vivian said somberly. Bucky snorted and laughed, bracing his hands on his knees as he nearly fell over. Steve threw his head back as he guffawed. Bucky could barely hear Vivian over their combined laughter as she scoffed, "Shut up." 

"Glad to see the Avengers are spending their time wisely when going after a supervillain they created." 

Clearing his throat and standing up straight, Bucky glanced over, wincing as Nick Fury strolled over. Glancing back at the ground, he could have sworn he saw the man smirk before Steve asked, "Nick, what are you doing here?" 

"Stark used backchannels to reach out to Coulson to see if we can provide air and ground support for the upcoming mission." 

"You didn't have to come here to agree to that," Steve said, taking a step forward. Bucky sighed and rubbed his face when he saw Steve had very deliberately put himself between Nick and them. 

Nick scoffed, "You still think I had something to do with them?" 

"No, I don't, but I also know better than to trust that you don't have an agenda of your own right now. You may not have known about either of them during your time as director, but that wouldn't stop you from taking action against them now." 

"I'm not a threat to them." 

"Now or in the future?" 

"You asking me to be a mind reader now? Could have sworn your holier than thou ass lectured me about punishment before the crime. Guess that goes out the window when it's someone _you've_ got on the line." 

"Steve," Bucky cautioned. 

Steve's hand remained clenched in a fist, but Bucky could see it relax ever so slightly as he said, "You're right, that wasn't fair, so how about right now. What are your plans for them _right now_?" 

"As long as they're not planning on switching sides, which from what I've heard is standard operating procedure for them, then they've got nothing to worry about." 

Steve took a step forward and Bucky sighed, moving forward and grabbing Steve's arm while whispering, "Steve, I get that you're still on edge from what you saw, but this won't keep us safe." 

Fury arched an eyebrow, "Should listen to your boyfriend. I'm here for one reason and one reason only, and that's to stop Stark's invention from causing more damage than it already has. The fact that I have no interest in taking down your boyfriend and girlfriend is a sign of how generous I'm being. After all, I owe this one at least a punch in the face." 

"For what?" Steve scoffed. 

"I blew up his car with him in it, and then I shot him in your apartment. I expected him to want to do a lot worse than punch me," Bucky sighed. 

"That wasn't you," Steve hissed. 

Bucky rolled his eyes and snorted, shaking his head, "I'm going to just ignore that since we don't have enough time to get back into _that_ argument." Focusing on Fury, he then said, "Sorry about everything that happened. It wasn't my choice, but still doesn't make it okay. I would offer for one of us to go let Tony know you're here, but there's no way he doesn't already know." 

"Oh, he does," Vivian sighed. "He's _definitely_ been watching this. Most likely waiting to see if you'd try to kill us. Although a little bit of it is because he's nosy as hell and does not know how to mind his own business." 

"Hey!" Tony scoffed, walking out and pointing a drink at Vivian. "That's not true." 

"Really? So you just have impeccable timing?" Vivian grinned. 

Bucky grinned as Tony glared before he shook his head, "Whatever. Fury, what do you and Agent Dead...Traitor...Coulson want?" 

"Really? That's what you came up with? Agent Dead Traitor Coulson?" Vivian laughed. 

"Oh really? Well when someone you trust comes back from the dead, just—" Tony began, but was cut off by the rest of them snorting or bursting into laughter. 

"Check the group you're talking to again, sweetheart," Vivian sighed. "Literally all of us have either been assumed dead or declared dead." She then pointed at Fury, "Shot." She pointed at Steve, "Frozen." She then pointed at Bucky, "Fell into a ravine." She then pointed at herself, "Assorted." 

" _Assorted_?" Fury and Tony both asked incredulously. 

"What? Some of my jobs meant I needed to 'die'. And then sometimes I did die. Death, by the way, is a bitch." 

"Pretty sure we all knew that," Tony said, rolling his eyes. 

"No, _Death with a capital D_. The being. She wants me to work for her. I told her no. I've been avoiding dying ever since just because meet-ups like that are awkward." 

"That better not be the only reason you're avoiding death," Steve said. His tone was light, but Bucky could practically feel the tension coming from him. 

Tony rolled his eyes, "Yeah. Sure. Anyway, we have bigger problems than Steve's zombie girlfriend." 

"And what's that?" Steve bit out. 

"Ultron didn't just rob a factory. He then went and robbed Hank Pym as well." 

"What did he take?" Fury demanded. 

"I can't find out for certain everything he stole since Hank Pym kind of hates my family thanks to the actions of dear old Dad, and also my own spies within his company—" 

"And you wonder why he doesn't trust you?" Steve asked dryly. 

Tony rolled his eyes, "He has spies within my company too. It's just business. Anyway, the only thing interesting he was working on was mapping someone's consciousness in order to place it within an existing system, or at least place a facsimile of it. It's not going to do Ultron any good." 

"Unless he wants to copy himself," Bucky said, shrugging. Everyone stared at him, so he pointed out, "I'm not about to pretend my being a halfway decent mechanic means I can keep up with all of this, but currently if he wants to control multiple things at once, it takes extra energy and concentration, right? But if he could duplicate himself completely so that there's more than one of him, then—" 

"Then his powers grow exponentially instead of just multiplying," Tony sighed. "Fuck. Okay, now we have a new objective on top of stopping him from destroying an entire country." 

"Which country is he going after?" Fury demanded. 

"Sokovia to start off with. Turns out there's a Hydra base there and also the area has a teensy tiny problem with corrupt government officials in general, which is how the Hydra base got to be there to begin with." 

"But why destroy the country? That doesn't make any sense," Steve said, brows furrowing. 

"Because Hydra keeps coming back," Natasha said, walking out and joining the group. "Every time we've made an effort to do things the right way, Hydra agents have escaped and then gone on to rebuild in some way while also recruiting to make up their losses. If no one survives in an area then you can guarantee that none of your enemy escaped. It's ruthlessly efficient." 

"If Hydra wasn't the target of the scorn, they'd actually be pretty impressed," Vivian mused. 

"Great job, Stark. You built a supervillain robot that's going to impress Hydra right before burning everything to the ground," Fury drawled. 

"Oh, I figured you would also be impressed since you wanted to slaughter millions of people at a time with your flying death machines," Vivian added. 

Fury glared and opened his mouth, so Bucky sighed and said, "Guys, can we focus? We've got a lot of work to do and I'd really rather not be responsible for any more deaths." 

"Wow, you really are turning over a new leaf," Tony said, fake gasping. 

"Didn't you help design the engines on Fury's flying death machines?" Clint mused, strolling over with a hot dog in his hand. 

"No one asked you, Clint," Tony snapped. 

"Hey, Clint, do you have anything to say to Tony?" Vivian asked, gasping sarcastically. 

Clint grinned, "That is _so thoughtful_ of you, Vivian. Actually, I wanted to ask if he was the one who designed the engines on Fury's flying death machines." 

"Such a good question," Vivian added. 

Bucky sent Steve a sideways glance and Steve shook his head, clearly holding back a grin. The attempt became a failure though as Tony flipped them all off. Unfortunately everyone's amusement died when Fury snapped, "If you're all about done doing your damndest to make me think I should have gone with bickering school children for this team so I could have some fucking maturity here, can we focus on the fact that Frankenstein wants to clone himself?" 

"Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster," Tony said. "Although if you think about it, the scientist _was_ the real monster, so—" 

"Oh, _that_ you care about? That's the thing you gotta take the time to correct during this crisis?" Fury demanded. Tony cleared his throat and stared at his feet. Fury scoffed, "Thought so." 

"What do they need to make this idea work?" Vivian asked. "I'm assuming It's not an easy task." 

"That's actually a smart question." Tony said, sounding actually impressed. "I'm surprised. Anyway, first thing would be mapping Ultron's mind with the device they stole from Pym. It helps if someone knows their way around tech in order to do it, but I think Pym was in the stages of making it more user friendly so I wouldn't count on that being a delay. And even then, Ultron can set it up and then have it start once he's in it. The problem Pym couldn't figure out how to overcome was what to do with it after that." 

"Depending on the extent of the girl's powers, she could be the fix for that," Natasha added. 

Tony scrunched up his nose, "Gross, we don't need magic to make technology work." 

"You used a glowing alien weapon from outer space to make Ultron," Vivian pointed out dryly. 

"That's not magic," Tony insisted. "It's just science we don't understand yet." 

Bucky sighed and shook his head. This wasn't the time or the place for _that_ argument, and he sure as hell didn't have an opinion on it anyway. Science could already be weird enough already without him tackling actual magic. 

"It doesn't matter whether it's science or not," Natasha sighed, sounding and looking exhausted. "The fact is that she could be the missing part of the process and to make matters more complicated, we have no idea what kind of influence she'll have on this creation. It might not end up being a true copy." 

"What do you mean?" Fury asked, stepping forward. 

Natasha motioned to Tony, "Tony told me that the initial things that went into making Ultron were himself, Jarvis, and a whole lot of just raw data. Some of the data was also from when Pym worked with Howard." 

"Weren't you supposed to destroy that?" Fury asked. 

"I thought we did, but apparently dear ol' Dad decided 'turn over everything' meant 'turn over copies'," Tony snapped. "Although really, Fury? Probably you shouldn't be someone to criticize anyone over stealing data." 

"Okay, what step do you think Ultron is on?" Vivian asked. 

"How should I know?" Tony scoffed 

"It's based on _your_ information, and partly on _you_ ," Natasha scoffed. "Beyond that, you're constantly reminding us how you're the smartest person in this room, so what steps does he have to do to make this copy of himself and from what we know, how far along do you think he is?" 

Tony glared, "If it were me, I'd want to make a single copy first as a way to test the process and to make sure it all works correctly, troubleshoot the result. Making a thousand exact copies does you no good if the product is broken. I didn't _start_ with a fleet of Iron Man suits. I started with one and then tweaked. I know the building Ultron will probably choose to clone himself in, but the problem is getting in without all of us getting our asses kicked by the evil twins. Only this time we can't take hours to figure it out. We have to stop them now." 

"Low voltage taser arrow was enough to bring down the girl without hurting her, so keeping our distance from her will keep us safe from her, pretty sure. It's the boy I'm not sure about. He moves faster than I can see and as good as I am at shooting, making those shots is nearly impossible without knowing his exact speed and the direction he's going," Clint said, staring at the sky. "And he's, understandably, protective of his sister. He's going to be all over us if we even try to go near her." 

For a moment, everyone just stood in silence. Bucky frowned though as he heard Vivian inhale deeply before letting it out slowly. Somehow, deep in his gut, he just _knew_ that she'd come up with an idea that he wasn't going to like. A quick glance at Steve and he saw his jaw working, so he figured Steve had that suspicion as well. 

"I think I know how to fix this," Vivian said, glancing slowly and cautiously at both himself and Steve. Any doubt he'd had about his fear was then shoved aside as Vivian stepped away from them while she continued, "If it goes well, we'll have a lot of inside knowledge, and if it's done soon enough, potentially stop Ultron from cloning himself." 

"That's a pretty extreme claim," Tony scoffed. "And how many people would you need to pull this off?" 

"Viv—" Steve began. 

"I'll need you to show me the actual data stolen from Ultron and I'll need someone to get me to the location. That's it. The idea is—" 

"Vivian, that's insane," Steve said, shaking his head. "The last time you went up against those kids, you ended up traumatized. We have no idea what they'll do to you if you go in alone." 

"Steve's right," Bucky said, his hands clenched tightly into fists in a desperate attempt to keep them from shaking. "What do you even hope to accomplish here?" 

Vivian rolled her eyes, "If you two hadn't interrupted me to go into protective boyfriends mode, I would have explained. So now both of you, please, just let me explain this. I can't guarantee you're going to like the idea, but it's also not only your vote that matters. The entire team should get to vote on it." 

"Well, in that case, I better go get the rest of them," Clint sighed. "You three can keep arguing about keeping each other safe while I get everyone out here." 

Vivian rolled her eyes as Clint then went back into the house. Moving closer, Bucky whispered, "Viv, c'mon. This is martyr talk." 

"It's actually not," Vivian said, shaking her head. "I promise you that I would not be offering this play if I didn't think it was our best chance of succeeding with minimal damage." 

"Except the minimal damage is all going to be to _you_ ," Steve hissed, moving closer. 

"And I think it'll be minimal damage to me as well. Seriously, can we just wait until Clint gets back with the rest of the team to discuss this? I love you both so much, but you know me. You know how I feel about these kids. And I haven't changed my mind about protecting them. Besides, all I'm asking for right now is for you to trust me to at least explain my idea." 

Steve flinched, taking a step back as if struck, and Bucky gently squeezed Steve's arm before he said, "Viv, Steve and I _do_ trust you. We do, and we will listen to you. We're just worried. That's all. The desire to protect each other isn't gonna go away. And you know we're on your side about those kids. We don't want them hurt." 

Vivian nodded and sighed, her shoulders slumping, "I know. I trust you two also, I just...sometimes when you two jump immediately to worrying, it makes me feel like you don't trust me to do the right thing." 

"Viv, I never meant to feel like that, and the fact that I did is really fucking awful. I'm sorry. I promise to do better about just letting you explain yourself first," Steve said, taking Vivian's hand in his. 

Bucky gently took Viv's other hand and squeezed it while whispering, "I'm sorry too. And I'll try to do better going forward as well." 

"Yeah, well, I'll do the same for you two," Vivian smiled. "I think we all kind of jump the gun into fear about each other and we gotta do our best to stop. Even though it's going to be wildly tough since this one jumps out of airplanes with parachutes." 

"That was _one time_ ," Steve sighed. 

"Man, that is not as good of a defense as you think it is," Sam laughed, walking over and clapping Steve on the back. "Although I am glad to see you three working on your communication in a healthy way. I am proud of you as your friend, but also as a professional who was seconds away from shoving booklets into your hands." 

"Thanks, Sam," Steve chuckled. 

Sam winked at them before heading over to talk to Rhodey as he came out. The last person out was Thor and Bucky arched an eyebrow as he saw that Mjolnir was covered in stickers and some of them were sparkly. 

Thor smiled when he saw what they were looking at and held Mjolnir up and announced, "The young archers bestowed upon me many gifts. The ones that shimmer in the light are for luck, whereas the colorful equines are there for the magical quality they possess." 

"Which is..." Tony asked, looking like he was struggling to hold back laughter. 

"Friendship and the scent of apples when scratched," Thor said, nodding. "It is my understanding that they have defeated many a great foe in your lore. I am honored to carry their visages into battle." 

Tony rolled his eyes and shrugged, but most everyone else just smiled at that. Bucky was the one to take a deep breath and then let it out slowly though as Vivian stepped into the middle of the group as she began her explanation. 

"Listen, I understand that some of you maybe don't feel as generous toward the twins as you did before we ran into them. The girl messing with our heads wasn't great and I'm not excusing that. However, she is still a kid, and I still want to protect her. I still want to protect all of us, and I think I have a way I can do that. Their sheet said they were Sokovian and I'm almost certain that they want to take down Hydra." 

"We knew that already," Tony griped. "You're not telling us anything new." 

"Let her talk, Tony," Steve snapped and then nodded to Vivian. 

Bucky smiled at Vivian as well, proud of her as she continued, "I know that, but there's a good chance that those kids don't know yet that Ultron doesn't just want to take out Hydra members. He wants to have a certainty that can't come without just destroying the entire country. He's then going to move onto other locations. In order for him to be certain, he will have to wipe out everyone, because Hydra did have footholds in almost all areas of the planet. Once he realizes that, he will just expand his agenda. 

"If those kids find out what goal they're actually working toward, they'll almost certainly turn on Ultron. And so my idea is that Tony shows me the actual data so that no one can argue I'm just going off of hearsay, and then someone takes me to wherever these kids and Ultron are working. Once I'm there, I will invite the girl into my mind so she can verify that I'm not lying to her." 

"But why go alone?" Sam asked. 

"Because multiple people together could seem like a threat and put them on the defensive or it could make her choose one of you. Last time was rough, but now that I know what to expect, I can prepare myself. Besides, with this setup, I don't think she'll pull the fear route again. And if she does, we can have a backup plan where someone else tries or we do something else," Vivian said, shrugging. 

Steve sighed and said, "All right. Tony, can Viv's suit tell us her vitals while she's in there?" 

Tony nodded, "We can tell if her heart rate gets too high or if she's hyperventilating based on a few different factors, and obviously we can tell if she doesn't respond." 

Bruce nodded, "We can tell you all those factors, but not why they're happening. For example, even if the meeting goes smoothly, if we don't have any feedback from it, I don't know if it will look different from our end." 

"What if there's a time limit?" Bucky suggested, stepping forward. Everyone stared at him and he shrugged, "Vivian will be able to keep in touch with us up until the meeting takes place, hopefully, and once that starts, we can give her fifteen minutes—" 

"Thirty," Vivian argued. 

Bucky sighed, "Fine, thirty minutes. If she doesn't give us an update at the thirty minute mark, we go in. And also if the vitals do something obviously bad, like if she flatlines, then we go in immediately." 

"I can just shock her suit if she flatlines," Tony said, waving his hand. 

"Unfortunately, that won't work, Tony," Bruce sighed. "If her heart has stopped beating, shocking her won't do anything. At that point, she would need chest compressions. If her heart rhythm becomes unusual, we can shock her, but otherwise, it's just not helpful." 

Bucky watched as Steve stared at the ground, brow furrowed in thought as he asked, "Is there any way we can get eyes on them in the place so we can look for visual cues from her as well?" 

Natasha nodded, "Getting access to the cameras to just view them is a lot easier than looping them. We just need a weakness to exploit within the building and then we're good to go." 

"Actually, we won't even need that," Tony sighed. "Unless Ultron changed something, I already have access to the system, and honestly, if I were him, I would let me watch." 

"Wait, why do you already have access?" Rhodey asked. 

"Because Ultron hates me and is definitely going to use one of my properties to finish his prototype," Tony said shrugging. "There's really only one of my places that has the privacy, equipment, and space to get it done. It's also the only remaining place that was owned by both Hank Pym and my father before it was passed to me." 

"Even better," Natasha said, smirking slightly. 

"All right, it's time to vote. All in favor of this plan, raise your hand," Steve said, standing up straight. 

Bucky raised his hand and watched as Steve, Natasha, Clint, Thor, Sam, and Bruce all raised their hands. He was a little surprised that Tony, Fury, and Rhodey didn't raise their hands. 

Fury shrugged, "I don't know this woman and I don't trust anyone, but especially not someone whose whole plan hinges on a conversation none of us can hear and can't be recorded. It's even dumber to have that part based on her _guess_ that these kids aren't down for destroying a country just because they're from it." 

Rhodey and Tony nodded at that and Bucky winced before he cleared his throat, "If these kids just wanted to destroy the area, they would have volunteered to be with Hydra and they wouldn't have left them. Hydra's whole damn plan hinged on wanton chaos and destruction driving people to follow their lead. They didn't need to join Ultron to destroy Sokovia." 

"And aside from that, the majority ruled in favor of Vivian," Natasha added with a shrug. 

"Really, Romanoff?" Fury scoffed. 

"Yes, really," Natasha snapped. "You're not in charge of this group, Nick, and I'm agreeing to the plan with the safety nets added. Vivian's also, just to remind you, the only person who has come up with an idea about how to handle two extremely powerful mutants that has an extremely low casualty risk. Otherwise our idea was electric arrows and hoping for the best that the kid who can move faster than any of us can see him doesn't decide to snap our necks before we can blink. She's also the only reason I got to work for you at all." 

Bucky side eyed Vivian at that and smiled when he watched her roll her eyes and grumble under her breath about how Natasha saved herself. 

"Fine, but if this goes bust, I won't help rescue her. I'll already be out and helping Coulson's team get into place," Fury said, turning around and storming off. It was a little less dramatic with him wearing sunglasses instead of an eyepatch, in Bucky's opinion, but he definitely wasn't going to tell that man that. He didn't need the hassle. 

Tony sighed, "All right, fine. C'mon, Hecate, you've got fifteen minutes to absorb a lot of documents into your mental mind palace or whatever." 

Vivian rolled her eyes, but followed Tony into the house. Bucky wasn't surprised that Steve followed them in. Bucky rubbed his hands over his face and then back up across his hair before forcing himself to take deep breaths. He trusted Vivian. He trusted her ideas and her capabilities. He wanted to help those kids. 

He just really hoped this plan worked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I really hope Vivian's plan makes as much sense as I think it does. Also, my only knowledge of My Little Pony is from the video Jenny Nicholson made about Bronies and MLP in general. I do think Thor would respect children though and honor gifts of stickers. I also think he'd be down for beloved children's cartoons.
> 
> Bleppppp. So last weekend on Sunday, I had this big plan to finish this chapter and post it since my laptop came back to me on Sunday. Except it came back to me broken in a new way and I no longer could access the internet. I then spent hours frantically contacting customer support only to be told I'd either need to send it _back in all over again_ for repairs or I'd have to reset my laptop to factory settings and hope for the best that it would fix a hardware issue. I decided I'd go for option 1 because I didn't want to destroy all the stuff I have on my laptop on the chance that it might fix it but probably would still need work. However that, and a few other things, sent me spiraling and also I didn't get finished with all of that until way past when I normally post. So I once again went 3 weeks in between posts even though I promised I'd try better last time. I feel awful for even apologizing again since I'm not fixing it. My goal is now 2-3 weeks between posts and I am so sorry. I really hate this, to be honest. I hate feeling like this.
> 
> I am super grateful to y'all for sticking by me and supporting me through all of this though. I want to put out a chapter next weekend to make it up to all of you, but that all depends on what happens this week, and I honestly have no idea. So if I do put out a chapter, yay, but I wouldn't count on it. In that case, happy Indigenous People Day a little early.


	13. Thirteen: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: mentions of self-harm, mentions of torture (medical), mentions of brainwashing, and mentions of seizures.
> 
> As always, please let me know if you need a warning or tag added.

Vivian took a deep breath and moved her head back and forth, desperate for some sort of relief from the tension. Clint and Natasha were flying the plane again, so that meant they were the only people there that weren't staring at her. She avoided the glances of the others as best as she could. Tony was rolling his eyes while he whispered to Rhodey and Bruce. Steve and Bucky were standing next to each other. Both of them with abysmal poker faces. They were both worried. Thor was standing with them, seemingly deep in thought.

"You okay?"

Glancing at Sam, Vivian nodded, taking another deep breath. She let it out slowly before she asked, "You over here for Tony or for Steve?"

"I'm over here for myself," Sam said, sitting down next to her.

"So the fact that Steve looks seconds away from making a huge speech about how at the first sight of trouble he'll be in there to keep me safe is just a coincidence? Because he's given me that speech five times since he found out my plan," Vivian sighed.

"Just five? Guess he's holding back," Sam said, grinning. "Also, I haven't known him as long as you have, but I'm almost positive that's just what his face looks like."

Vivian rolled her eyes and smiled, "I think part of the reason why he hasn't said anything more than that is because he set himself up as the backup plan. I know he knows that I know that he plans on doing this, but we've just both kind of avoided talking about it."

"What do you mean?"

"He looked at the same information I did," Vivian explained. "If I fail, he's going to go in with Bucky. Bucky will get me out of there while the girl is in Steve's head. That's the plan Steve hasn't said out loud."

"And you're okay with that?"

"It'd be a little hypocritical of me to say that I can demand to do this for him, but he can't try for me. Bucky would probably make the same offer if he wasn't also worried about the girl finding the triggers inside of him."

"You want me to distract you with some good news?"

Vivian glanced sideways at Sam before smiling, "Sure. Hit me with your best shot."

Sam grinned, "Sharon's gonna help us in Sokovia."

"Are you considering that good news because you'll get to show off for her again?" Vivian laughed.

"Hey, don't mock. Usually we're not on the same mission. She knows I've got moves, but she doesn't know I've got _moves_."

Vivian nodded slowly before she asked, "Don't you two go on dates?"

"Yes, but I wanna show off with the wings. She hasn't seen me use those before," Sam explained.

"Then how come you didn't just take her somewhere where you can use the wings or just bring her to the tower and show her there?"

"Because I can't use them in between missions."

"Who the fuck told you that and why the fuck did you believe them?" Vivian laughed. Sam stared blankly and she laughed harder. "Oh god. Don't tell me _Tony_ told you that lie. Sam, sweetheart, are you kidding me? There's a viral video of him partying and pissing in one of his suits. Hell, Tony has used one of the suits to go to 7-11. He did it because for a while the Slurpee cups had his face on them, so he one a day until the deal was over.

"He also replaced all the cups in our kitchen with them. Pepper made him give back our cups. Regardless, I'm pretty sure he told everyone that those trips were to build good will with the public or something. I'm almost positive that you can claim it's a training exercise and it'd be less bullshit than that was."

Sam shook his head, "Man, I'd forgotten about that video."

"And you can always use the big guns if you want a reason Tony cannot under any circumstance argue with."

"The big guns?"

"Yeah, ask Pepper to give you permission," Vivian shrugged.

Sam snorted, "I'll make sure to keep that in mind."

"Thanks."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"For distracting me," Vivian said, staring at the ground. "Not sure how you knew I'd need to be distracted, but thank you."

"You're fidgeting like crazy and you only do that when you're nervous."

"Ah, right," Vivian winced.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Sam asked quietly.

"Sure."

"Are you always this surprised when your friends know you well enough to spot your tells?"

Vivian smiled softly and shrugged, "Still getting used to all this."

"Getting used to what? Having friends?" Sam asked teasingly, gently nudging her. Vivian sent him a sideways glance and his eyes widened. "Shit, I was kidding, but apparently I nailed it. Everyone here cares about you and you've got even more people outside of this. You got the X-Men, you got a weird vigilante lawyer, and I happen to have it on good authority that Sharon thinks you're cool."

"We've barely spoken."

"She appreciates your style. I know her, Maria, Kate, Pepper, and Natasha sometimes have lunch together."

"I'm not inviting myself to your girlfriend's luncheon."

"It's not inviting yourself if I'm passing along an invitation from her. This is, by the way, that invitation."

Vivian bit her bottom lip before she nodded, "Yeah, I'll think about it, but for now, we're about to land, and I need to focus."

Sam nodded and headed back to his seat and Vivian followed suit. Steve and Bucky held her hands as they landed, although she suspected that with Steve it was just as much for him as it was for her. Once they landed, she stood up and smiled as Steve stood with her.

"Remember, just say the word and we'll come get you," Steve said, his hands clenched by his sides.

"I know," Vivian said, pressing a hand gently to his cheek. "I'll see you soon."

"Judging by the camera feeds, the girl is closest to the south entrance," Tony said, still seated and looking somewhat bored. "Wait thirty seconds before you open you go into the building though and I'll have audio by then."

Vivian nodded, smiling softly as Bucky whispered into her ear, "We've got your back."

"I know you do," Vivian whispered before leaving. She could feel everyone watching her as she made her way to the south entrance. As soon as she arrived, the door unlocked and she sighed before whispering, "Thanks."

"Yeah, whatever. Just try not to damage my property," Tony retorted.

"Ignore him, and just remember to watch your back," Natasha said.

Before they could argue further, Vivian sighed, "As much as I appreciate both your help, it's kind of hard to concentrate with people arguing in my ear."

The comm went silent, so Vivian took a moment to take a few more deep breaths before she entered the building. She'd barely stepped into the walkway before her arms were pinned behind her back by one hand and an arm was pinned across her neck. Glancing back over her shoulder confirmed she was definitely being held by the twin with superspeed.

"Tell your friends to back down or my brother will break your neck."

Glancing forward as the girl stepped into view, her hands up with a red glow around them, Vivian smiled softly, "I'm here to talk, not fight. Besides, just a touch of constructive criticism here, but I am the _worst_ person to make that threat to since snapping my neck is an inconvenience, not a conclusion. Plus, I'm here to talk to the two of you, not Ultron."

"Why should we listen to you? You electrocuted my sister," the boy hissed into her ear, tightening his grip on her wrists.

" _I_ did not electrocute anyone considering I was busy dealing with barely repressed trauma in a closet during that incident. And my friend electrocuted her to stop her from bringing out the trauma in anyone else. If he wanted to hurt her, he would have used an actual arrow. Or one that explodes or something. He has a lot of arrows. I meant it when I said I wanted to help you."

The girl paused, but didn't lower her hands. They were also still glowing. Vivian took this as a sign she could keep talking, so she said, "I get why you don't trust any of us. It's probably been years since you've met someone who hasn't actively been looking to hurt you and even longer since you met someone that just wouldn't let you down. And I get it, you don't fucking know me. I'm just some person you think is in your way, but I swear, I'm on your side."

"And we're supposed to just believe that? Just take your word on it?"

Vivian shook her head, "Fuck no. Absolutely not. You and your brother aren't idiots, so I'm not asking you to trust me based on nothing. I'm asking you to try not to kill me when you dig into my brain to see the truth for yourself."

The girl narrowed her eyes, "You want me to read your mind?"

"Yup. Name's Vivian, by the way. I did this all out of order, but who I am really doesn't matter. I saw Ultron's plans, and he wants to hurt innocent people. I am not asking either of you to take my word on it, because once again, that's pretty stupid. Look into my mind. If I'm lying, you'll already be in my mind so fucking me up will be that much easier. Hell, your brother still has me in his grasp, so while I'm detained, you can just snap my neck like he originally threatened. You two have all the power here."

" _I don't think this is a good idea_ ," the boy hissed in Sokovian. " _We should take her to Ultron_."

" _If you don't mind, I'd appreciate at least being heard out first before you hand me over to a megalomaniac_ ," Vivian snapped in Sokovian, startling the boy. His sister paused, looking momentarily shocked. Before Vivian could say anything else though, that red light filled her vision. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the light, and when she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a familiar room.

"Great," Vivian sighed. "Home sweet home." She stood up and gave a deep sigh. The room was more familiar to her than her own reflection, although perhaps not in this state. This room was splattered with blood and there was no bed in the room. This was her room from one of the times she'd been isolated for long periods of time.

"Did I choose this spot or did you? Because if you chose it, that's rude, and if I chose it, I need to book another appointment with my therapist. I mean, I'm probably going to need to do that anyway after you're out of my head, but this would mean I'd need to call even sooner."

"What is this place?" Wanda asked, slowly walking around the room and staring at the walls in horror. She had her arms wrapped around herself tightly.

"I used to be kept in here by Hydra," Vivian sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "Lost myself a few times in here, but solitary confinement will do that to you. Can you tell me your name already? I feel like I deserve to know that since you're inside my mind for the second time."

"Wanda."

"Well, Wanda, I'd say It's nice to meet you, but honestly this would have been more enjoyable under much radically different circumstances."

Wanda nodded and stood next to her before asking, "How'd the blood get on the walls?"

"The time I spent in here gets a little weird. My mind has trouble keeping it all straight, so it's either the blood of a doctor who was trying to brainwash me or it's my own blood. I hallucinated something awful when the doc was in here and killed him on accident."

"Do you regret it?"

"Not really. He deserved it, but I wasn't in control either. The times I hurt myself were also hallucinations. I thought other people were hurting me," Vivian said and shrugged. "Now, I don't necessarily mind you digging through my trauma, but this won't exactly tell you why we're here."

"I'm sorry." Vivian glanced at Wanda in confusion, but then frowned as Wanda just shook her head and headed for the door.

Vivian shrugged and followed her through the door, wincing as they went through the door only to be surprised when she found herself in Xavier's academy.

"What's this place?"

"School for people like us," Vivian said softly. "School for mutants. Charles and the others take care of us, teach us to control our powers, and make sure we have a home to go to."

"Why didn't they save you from Hydra?"

"They didn't know I was there. Charles can look for mutants, but it's still not exactly easy combing through the entire planet," Vivian said, smiling. "There are a few other organizations as well. They do their best to protect mutants when they can. My dad is in the X-Men. Wasn't always with them."

"You have the same powers as him?" Wanda asked, standing next to her.

"Some of them," Vivian admitted. "We both have accelerated healing. I have telekinesis and he doesn't, but he also has claws that I don't have. From what we've all figured out, genetics _can_ influence what kind of powers you get, but not necessarily. So some of the people in the school have parents or siblings that have the same powers as them and then others only have 'normal' immediate family."

Wanda's shoulder slumped and Vivian side-eyed her before she asked, "You were hoping that your powers or your brother's powers would lead you to someone, didn't you?"

Wanda looked like she was about to answer, but then just moved to the door and snapped, "Let's go."

Vivian held up her hands and headed through the door, pausing as she saw they were in Laura Barton's basement. She saw herself staring intently at the numerous screens. Steve and Tony stood behind her. Steve looked worried, but Tony looked increasingly impatient until he blurted out, "You always this slow of a reader, Peshkova?"

"Cut it out, Tony," Steve snapped.

Vivian motioned to the screens, the people pausing in her memory, "Tony got a little impatient since I made sure to study the screens pretty extensively."

"You expect me to trust information from Tony Stark?" Wanda scoffed.

"This information is directly from Ultron," Vivian stressed. "Tony's a lot of things, but he wouldn't lie about a massacre. That's not the kind of man he is. And he sure as hell wouldn't fake information like this. Ultron is going to kill everyone in Sokovia."

"Liar," Wanda hissed. She then stormed out of the room and Vivian sighed and tried to follow. For a moment the door wouldn't open and she had to force it only to nearly topple to the ground.

"Oh for fuck sake," Vivian whispered as she saw a familiar woman waiting for her in the room. "What the fuck are you doing here? I'm not dead."

"No, you're not," Death chuckled. Vivian found herself relieved that Death looked less attractive than she had the last time. Same odd outfit though. "But if that child keeps rampaging through your mind the way she is, you will be soon."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're dying, and the child is the reason."

"That doesn't make any sense. How could I be dying?" Vivian scoffed, sitting at the table across from Death.

Death rolled her eyes and tucked her hair behind her ears as she teased, "You should know better than anyone else that the mind is... _fragile_. This child you so desperately wish to help has problems controlling the powers she wields and so when she enters a mind, she rather has a habit of tearing through it."

"At the risk of giving you ideas, why are you talking to me then instead of her? Why not try to use your weird recruitment techniques on her?"

Death laughed, "Oh, you gorgeous little thing, as if I need your help coming up with ideas. No, the child is powerful, that's for certain, but I'm afraid she's off-limits to me."

"Since when do you respect boundaries?"

"I've always respected boundaries, darling, that's why you're still alive. If I didn't, I would have just taken you years ago. Instead I am, yet again, merely extending my hand to you."

"For some random plan you won't explain at all."

"Now that's above _your_ paygrade. Although, I will say your little group is just full of people doing their parts _marvelously_. You already found two pieces of the puzzle, and used them, no less! You'll have to get a little _strange_ for the third one though. The rest are a touch out of your reach for the time being, but others are already in the process of retrieving them."

Vivian frowned, "How is it that you're even more cryptic than usual?"

Death sighed, "Because telling you everything is _boring_. What fun would it be if, say, during a murder mystery someone came in and told you every single piece within the first thirty minutes?"

"I'm nearly a hundred years old, and besides, this isn't a game or some puzzle for you to be entertained by."

"Mere seconds in the grand scheme of things, and yes, you all absolutely are here for my entertainment. What other reason is there?"

Vivian rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to retort, but then the room shook violently. Glancing around, Vivian frowned, "What was that?"

"You. That was a seizure. A big one too," Death said, standing up and laughing. "Oh, that girl is really digging into your memories. Part of the seizure was her. It was a little rough for her to see some of your past. That's another reason I don't go to her. For my goals, I need less volcano and more...laser."

"Fuck," Vivian sighed, standing up. "I need to go help her."

Death sighed, "I forgot you had an incessant need to not be yourself. You have the opposite problem that child has. You hold yourself back too much."

Vivian scoffed, "I _guarantee_ you that is _not_ my problem." Heading over to the door, she tried to turn the handle only to find it locked. "Open it, Death. I have to get going, and you trapping me in here is cheating. Besides, if you want me to complete whatever bullshit plan you're not sharing, I can't do it if I'm dead."

"Is this you agreeing to help?"

Vivian rubbed at her temples for a moment before she replied as calmly as possible, "Not a chance, but since I don't know what you want me to do, I have no way of knowing how to avoid it either. You seem to think we've collected two of...something. Or someone. You really haven't actually narrowed it down at all beyond the fact that they can be used. I don't even know the maximum number involved here."

The room shook again and this time a crack formed along the wall. Death stood and chuckled, "Humans are always so curious, and I really would love just keep giving you breadcrumbs—"

A large boom cut off the conversation for a moment and Vivian winced as she saw that the crack was nearing the floor. Shaking her head, Vivian sighed, "You're never going to give me answers. You're just keeping me here until I die."

"And yet I'm not the one stopping you from leaving this room. Decades later and you still have some hefty issues with me. You should work on that. Although, you did make me a little less sexy this time. I'm still pretty, but not in a way that says you _want_ me. That's got to be some sort of development."

" _Fuck_ ," Vivian hissed, turning toward the door and holding out her hand.

"Aw, it's so sweet seeing you trying even though you know you're going to fail."

"Fuck you and the pale horse you rode in on," Vivian muttered and then sent a wave of energy toward the door. It slammed open and she headed out of the room. The second she stepped out of the room, she could hear the door slam shut behind her, but she didn't look back as she raced forward.

The place seemed to have settled somewhat, but there were cracks in the walls and even some along the ceiling. For a moment she forgot just what exactly was cracking until she realized that it was blood dripping out of the cracks.

"Great," Vivian muttered. "My mind has turned into a shitty horror movie."

As if on cue, Wanda screamed and Vivian ran toward the sound. She could feel the floors and walls beginning to shake ever so slightly as she searched for the right door. Once she did, she pulled it open only to wince as she saw herself going through exploratory surgery with no anesthetic.

For a moment she could only stare at herself, her stomach churning as that young woman stared defiantly at the ceiling, desperately trying not to cry. Wanda's screaming snapped her out of those thoughts though and she sighed as she saw her curled up in a corner.

"Shh, It's okay," Vivian said, cautiously approaching Wanda. Once she got into the girl's field of vision, Vivian crouched down in front of her and smiled, "C'mon, just look at me. Just focus on me."

"I—I don't understand. They—they ripped you open. _You didn't make a sound_."

"Wanda, look at me. Focus on the me that's in front of you. I know this was a lot for you to see, but right now I need you to take deep breaths for me. Can you do that?"

Wanda nodded and took a slow, deep breath. It shook and her body trembled as she then whispered, "How did—" She broke off and shook her head.

"I can heal. I get it from my father. We're both extremely good at surviving." Vivian then smiled, "Now, how about I take your hand and we leave this memory?"

Vivian held out her hand and Wanda took it. Gently squeezing her hand, Vivian then walked them both out, keeping Wanda's back to the grizzly scene. It didn't stop the sound from getting to her though, causing her to flinch. Once the door was finally firmly shut, she sideways glanced at Wanda, "You okay, kid?"

Wanda frowned, "Shouldn't you be mad at me?" She then gestured wildly at the walls, "I'm hurting you a lot. I hurt your friends a lot."

"Well, I'm not entirely certain how much of my crazy history you saw, but it would be a touch hypocritical of me to be mad at you for losing control of your powers since the damage I've done in my life was mostly on purpose. I didn't have _fun_ living out my greatest fear, so I wasn't happy with you, but I also don't hate you for it either."

Wanda winced, "I am sorry about that. I thought...I thought you were protecting..."

"Oh, you thought we were on Hydra's side? Yeah, I would have done worse to us if I was in your position. You don't owe me anything other than a promise to not do that to me again, although the rest of the team is another story."

Wanda smiled softly, "That seems...more than fair."

Vivian grinned and clapped her hands together once, "Right, now before we both get out of my subconscious, please refrain from talking about what you saw in here with anyone. I mean, I guess you can tell your brother as long as he promises not to use it against me. The rest of the team already knows about most of this stuff, but it's just a little awkward, and some of them just get really bummed out when they hear about it."

"You're talking about Rogers and Barnes," Wanda whispered.

"Yes."

"I saw...memories of the three of you. You danced together. You seemed happy."

Vivian smiled, "God, that's a good memory." Shaking her head, she then grinned, "I love those two idiots more than life itself."

"I am going to assume that your forgiveness of my actions only goes so far."

"I forgive the things you _have_ done and I believe you can do better," Vivian stressed. "I _want_ you to do better, but I won't let you hurt the people I care about again, and that includes the rest of the team beyond my boyfriends. Even Tony, although I would like you to keep that part just between us."

Wanda smiled softly and nodded, "I promise."

"Great, now how do we get out?"

Wanda frowned and took a few deep breaths, glancing around before she pointed down a hallway, "This way."

Vivian headed down the hallway and couldn't help but feel like she'd cut it pretty close with this conversation as she saw the damage. They passed a door in the hallway that just had blood pouring out of the keyhole like a faucet. The frame of the door was warped and you could peer into the room. A quick glance into the room showed that damn chair and she walked a little faster.

"We just go through that door and then we're out."

Vivian nodded as they approached a door at the end. It was a somewhat odd looking door. For a moment she wanted to figure out _why_ the door to her mind looked like a secret passageway that got blown up and partially replaced with a smaller normal door, but then reminded herself that it was probably a question best asked to her therapist.

"You coming?" Wanda asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, right behind you," Vivian smiled, and she was about to follow Wanda through the door when she felt a presence right behind her. Vivian gave a loud sigh as she, without looking back, said, "You can't stop me from going."

"Oh, I don't want to stop you. Just remember—"

"What I am?" Vivian interrupted, mocking. "Yeah, sure. Thanks for the farewell cryptic bullshit, but can I leave now? I would really like to wake up, and I'm not interested in clicking my heels together."

The presence disappeared and Vivian headed through the door, making a final mental note to talk to Charles and Jean about keeping Death out of her subconscious when she had the chance. Maybe they'd know how to keep her out. Or bare minimum, maybe they could be backup next time.

As soon as she went through the door, everything went dark and she realized she was being held in someone's arms as they ran their fingers through her hair.

"Jesus Christ, Rogers, you think we can trust her? The only damn person in this group who _did_ trust her had _multiple_ seizures because of her. She's still goddamn unconscious!" Tony scoffed.

"Wanda said it was an accident and I believe her," Steve sighed. "As soon as she woke up, she helped Thor get Ultron's prototype away from him."

"And then her brother helped him escape."

"Only before he knew what was going on, and then he switched to our side. We may not have Ultron right now, but we have allies we didn't have before."

"So what?"

"Tony, you know we need their help."

Vivian opened her eyes and smiled softly as she found herself cradled in Bucky's arms. He wasn't looking at her, rather staring intently at the argument between Steve and Tony.

"The seizures really were an accident," Vivian said, making both Steve and Tony jump.

"Viv," Bucky whispered, cupping her face in his hand. "Are you okay?"

Steve was seconds away, crouching next to her as he whispered, "Do you need anything?"

Vivian sighed and sat up with Bucky's help. He pulled her closer to him, letting er lean against him as she said, "Nothing right now. We'll definitely have more to discuss later, but right now we don't have the time."

"Viv, are you sure you're going to be okay—" Steve began, frowning and looking worried.

"I promise to be unconscious whenever possible on our way to Sokovia, and you both can require whatever you want after we take out Ultron, but until we do that, we need all hands on deck."

"Viv, are you sure you're okay enough to do that?" Steve asked.

"This is definitely not going to make you feel better, but I have been in the field after much worse."

"That definitely doesn't make me feel better."

"It doesn't make anyone feel better," Bucky whispered.

Shrugging, Vivian glanced around and asked, "Where's Wanda?"

"Nat's talking to the twins. Clint's keeping an eye on it all," Sam explained. "Bruce and Thor are keeping an eye on the prototype."

"I'm keeping an eye on all of it, because this is still my building," Tony said, staring at a screen he was working on with Rhodey by his side. The two then exchanged a glance before focusing back on the screens.

"Are the twins okay?" Vivian asked.

Tony snorted and rolled his eyes, but before he could give some bitter quip, Steve gently squeezed her hand and said, "They're a little shook up, but they're okay."

Vivian nodded and smiled softly as Bucky gently tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek. She scrunched up her nose though when Steve leaned forward and kissed her other cheek. Gently pushing both of them back, she shook her head, "You're both absolutely ridiculous."

"Pretty sure we're allowed to be ridiculous after what we saw," Bucky commented and Vivian immediately felt bad. To a casual observer, Bucky would sound fine, but she knew better.

"I'm gonna go check on Nat and the twins," Sam said, walking away. At the same time, Tony and Rhodey headed off in another direction, presumably toward the prototype.

After they'd walked off, Vivian admitted, "I really am sorry that it went this way. It probably wouldn't have, but I got...separated from Wanda and so she ended up seeing a lot of awful shit she was never supposed to."

"How'd you get separated?" Steve asked, frowning in confusion.

"Do you both remember when I mentioned Death before?" Vivian asked cautiously. She could _feel_ Bucky tense up at that question, and she saw Steve do the same. That was all the confirmation she needed, so she nodded and gave a dry, bitter laugh. "Yeah, that's a fair reaction. I was chasing after Wanda in my mind and I got sidetracked by Death. She was just kind of...waiting for bad shit to happen in my mind. She seemed fully aware of how Wanda didn't really have control, and so knew I would start...dying."

"What did she want?" Bucky asked quietly.

"I honestly am still not sure," Vivian said with a shrug. "She mentioned again some big plan and her goals for me. She also mentioned that there are two of... _something_ that we've collected and already used? I have no idea what she was talking about. Hell, I don't even know if it's a thing. I just know there are two we have gotten and there's a third with someone strange, and then the rest are out of our reach currently."

Steve frowned, "Do you think Loki's scepter is one of them?"

"Maybe," Vivian sighed. "I mean, we have it and we've definitely used it, but even if that's the case, I don't know what the rest of the things are or even a maximum number of things. It's more than three, but that doesn't actually narrow things down. Maybe one day we'll look back at this conversation and groan because of how obvious this clue is, but for now, I just don't know."

"Maybe it's alien artifacts and the cube is one of them," Bucky suggested.

"Maybe, but that one isn't exactly with us anymore," Steve added. "Thor took that back to Asgard months ago."

"But his hammer is technically an alien artifact, so maybe that's one of them," Vivian pointed out. She then sighed and shook her head, "God, that doesn't make sense either." Taking a deep breath, she then began to stand up only to pout slightly as Bucky kept from getting up.

"Viv, I know you're in a hurry to get back to helping everyone, but just...rest a bit longer for us," Bucky pleaded quietly.

"I don't think Ultron is going to let me do that," Vivian whispered and smiled weakly. "He seems to have gone full HAL 9000."

"Careful," Steve whispered, leaning close, "If Tony hears you, he's going to know I've seen yet another movie I'm too old for."

Bucky snorted and shook his head. He then laid back and laughed as Vivian teased, "Actually, if we're just going for conscious years, you're only thirty-one, so that makes Tony _fourteen years older than you_. Although it does make Bucky and me a little weird for dating you."

"Very funny. I don't think—" Steve began before he was cut off by the sound of thunder and then a shout from Bruce.

Without a word, Vivian and Steve reached for each other. Steve took Vivian's hand and pulled her up as Bucky stood up, gently pushing her up. The three of them ran toward the room. An odd container was in the middle of the room and Thor was standing nearly above it, his hammer raised. Tony was standing near Thor and _glaring_.

"Hey, Dr. Frankenstein, _what the fuck was that_?" Tony screamed.

"Bruce, are you okay?" Vivian asked, stepping forward as she saw that he was pressed against the wall and nearly trembling. Bruce nodded, but still didn't say anything.

"Someone tell me exactly what happened in here," Steve demanded.

Tony glared, stormed past a frazzled looking Rhodey, and motioned angrily at Thor, "I told this lunatic that since it seemed like the transfer mostly happened that all it needed was a good shock to finish the job, and then he fucking just lifted his hammer and electrocuted it!"

"It was the correct course of action," Thor said, stepping down onto the ground. "While you stood there, contemplating your next move, this being was fading from existence."

"You don't know that," Bruce said shakily, stepping forward and pointing. "You have _no idea_ what this thing is!"

"Thor is right," Wanda said, cautiously entering the room with her brother protectively standing by her side. "I can sense life in there. It is time for him to awaken."

"How do we know she's not behind this?" Tony demanded.

"That's a fair question," Rhodey asked, stepping forward.

"Behind what?" Natasha asked as she entered the room with a frown alongside a similarly displeased looking Sam. They both scoffed when Tony gestured wildly around the room. "Maybe they knew we were coming, but there was no way to guarantee that Vivian would turn her subconscious into a meeting room."

"They dug around in her head before, so they could have just predicted she'd do some martyr bullshit," Tony scoffed.

Natasha rolled her eyes, "Even if they did predict that, what was the purpose of turning against Ultron instead of trying to kick our asses?"

"They're teenagers, so it could have just been impulsive."

"Wait, so which is it? They're calm enough to have analyzed Vivian was the best way in or they're impulsive enough to turn on the powerful being that broke them out of jail just because maybe it'll do something?" Natasha asked.

"Also, I just want to point out that at least half this room can't actually criticize anyone for impulsive behavior," Clint added, dropping down from the ceiling. "Natasha and Rhodey are really the only ones who aren't impulsive."

Sam glared, "I'm not impulsive."

"Dude, you signed up to go on a world saving mission that involved active treason after seeing one file and talking about it for five minutes," Clint retorted. "Just because you're smarter about your impulsive behavior doesn't mean that you're not impulsive."

"Then what about Bruce? He's not impulsive," Tony said, pointing.

Bruce winced, "I used experimental tech on myself and created the Hulk and...I am the Hulk."

"That's _one,_ maybe _two_ impulsive moments. Four or five if you count the times you've fled the country. Definitely no more than six moments. That doesn't count as a history of impulsive behavior. I still don't think you count," Tony argued. Everyone stared at Tony for a moment before he shrugged and grumbled, "What? Am I not allowed to defend someone?"

Steve shook his head, "I need everyone to focus. Can anyone tell us what's going on with this... _being_ right now? Wanda mentioned life in there, but are they awake now and will leaving them in there for longer damage them?"

Thor shrugged, "I merely knew the course of action to take to bring them into this world."

Wanda frowned, "I do not believe being in there _harms_ them, but I do not believe they will enjoy being in it for much longer."

"How much time do we have?" Rhodey asked.

Wanda bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes. Her hands glowed red and the glow travelled over the object like a caress before she whispered, "Not long now." Her eyes opened and Vivian was surprised when Wanda stared at her as she asked, "May I open it?"

Vivian shrugged and glanced over at Steve. He sighed and glanced at the ceiling before he said, "All right, let's see what Ultron created."

The room erupted into protest a mere second after Steve said that. Vivian pressed her hands against her face and smiled into her hands as Bucky kissed the back of her neck and whispered into her ear, "Steve's still got a knack for stirring up trouble, doesn't he?" He then snickered as she gently nudged his side. "Oh, I forgot," he continued. "You're just as bad as he is."

"So are you," Vivian whispered back, glancing over her shoulder.

Bucky pretended to look offended, but whatever retort he had planned was cut off by the container bursting open and a humanoid stepping out. At first she thought the body was a deep red with silver throughout, but then in another light the body looked almost purple and gold. The only thing that remained the same was the yellow glowing jewel in his forehead.

Vision's eyes opened and for a moment they looked like burning embers in darkness. As the being looked around the room though, the color shifted until they looked just shy of normal. The only thing Vivian could think of was that it was like someone did a really realistic job animating eyes but they were still a touch in the uncanny valley.

Wanda started approaching with her hands up, her eyes firmly trained on Vision as she said in a soothing voice, "It is all right. No one here will hurt you. Can you tell us your name?"

" _Really_?" Tony hissed. "That's what you're opening with?"

The creation tilted their head and glanced at Tony with an almost confused look on their face. Vivian took a deep breath as she saw multiple reach for their weapons as the being stepped forward. Vivian couldn't help but roll her eyes when both Steve and Bucky took steps in front of her until she snorted. They both then took a step backward to stand side by side with her.

"Everyone just calm down," Steve warned. "This…They haven't done anything wrong. They're just moving forward."

Rhodey eyed him sideway, "And you think that means this isn't gonna go psycho and kill us all?"

Wanda glared and snapped, "They're not a monster."

"My creator named me Vision," Vision said while staring at each of them unblinking. The eyes weren't quite blank, but it was still an uncanny feeling staring up at them. That feeling only lasted for a second. It seemed like the longer Vision looked at them all, the more human the eyes became, or maybe she just got used to them.

"Cool name. You know what pronouns we should use for you?" Clint asked, surprising half the people in the room. When they stared at him, Clint shrugged, "What? I happen to know that misgendering someone gives that person both a legal and moral excuse to kick your ass."

Vision frowned as they seemed to think about it. After several moments of silence, they slowly said, "'They' seems most appropriate. Although if that ever becomes inappropriate, I shall inform you of the change to avoid having to 'kick your ass'."

"So you're saying you don't want to kick our asses right now?" Clint asked, sounding excited.

" _Clint_."

Half the room seemed to hiss the name, but Vivian could only smile and shake her head. She caught Natasha's eye across the room and they shared a smile. Vision tilted their head before they said, "I have no current objectives."

"Really?" Natasha asked, stepping forward. "What about Ultron's plans for you?"

"I do not understand the question."

"Sure you do, Siri," Tony scoffed. "Your other creator? He wants you to destroy the world? Where do you stand on destroying humanity? Any of this registering?"

"Tony," Rhodey warned, placing a hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Ultron provided me with all relevant information about the mission so that I would be ready as soon as possible. I have seen the plans in their entirety," Vision said. "And I do not agree with them."

"We're happy to hear that," Steve said, stepping forward. "Ultron's going to be difficult to defeat, and we'd appreciate your help in stopping him. And I know this is a lot to ask, but if you do know that Ultron is wrong, then you have to also know that he can't be allowed to succeed. Help us, even if it's just with this."

Vision frowned and stared at the ground, seemingly lost in thought. After a few moments, they looked at Wanda. She smiled softly at them and said, "I know what it is like for bad people to try and twist you into a weapon for evil. I regret doing the things I did in Ultron's service, but I know I will regret it even more if I do not stop him."

For a moment the two just stared into each other's eyes and Vivian had to look away. The moment seemed powerful. Not _intimate_ , but _meaningful_. This moment mattered. All of it mattered.

"I do not wish for my first action in my life to be one I will live to regret," Vision began, eyeing them all carefully. "I will help you with this task, but after that, I will need time to sort things out."

"Thank you," Steve said, stepping forward and shaking Vision's hand. "We're grateful for the help. After we take care of Ultron, we'll do whatever we can to help you get where you're needing to go. We've got your back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey. I'm a little late posting today 'cause I got a late start. Sorry about that.
> 
> This chapter is long and was obnoxious to write since there are just _so many fucking characters in it right now._ A few times I had to edit/rewrite because I forgot where I'd left someone.
> 
> I hope Death's return and hints were fun, and I hope y'all are okay with Vision's introduction. I'm hoping to wrap up 2015 in the next 2-3 chapters.
> 
> Oh and I'm never gonna get tired of saying this, but thank y'all so much for your support. I've super appreciated it. My laptop is finally back and working!!! I'm so happy!


	14. Fourteen: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: it's a fight and there's some mild strangling
> 
> As always, if you would like a warning or a tag added, all you have to do is ask and I will do my best to fulfil the request. A tag semi-recently got added to this story and the previous one per a reader's request actually.

Steve took a deep breath as he stared at the maps of Novi Grad, Sokovia. The capital city was where Ultron was planning to start his strike according to the information that they'd dug up. The city was huge, so it was going to be hard to keep all the civilians safe, but he'd mapped out all the high risk targets. He'd even gotten the blueprints for the capitol building, something he was certain Ultron would focus on.

"God, you really are always this broody before a mission, aren't you?"

Glancing back at Tony, Steve sighed and nodded to the map, "Yeah, well, it's a whole damn country we have to save."

"Well, first we're saving a city, and we've done that before. Hell, last time we didn't even show up until the invasion was already happening. This time we get to be there before it starts. And we have help."

"I know that."

"Then why are you here obsessing instead of resting like everyone else?" Tony scoffed. "After all, aren't your pet felons doing that?"

"Tony," Steve sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah, yeah, don't call them felons or whatever."

Steve smiled softly, "Well, I'm glad you were at least able to correct yourself, even though you should have stopped yourself from saying it in the first place. Having a mental filter would do wonders for your life."

Tony snorted and sat next to him while sighing, "Mental filters are for people who don't have anything interesting to say in the first place, Rogers."

Steve shook his head and glanced around the building and said, "I'm going to let that comment slide since I'm almost certain you didn't mean it, not since Pepper would kick your ass over something like that."

" _That_ is you letting it slide?" Tony scoffed.

Steve grinned and shook his head, but then his smile slipped and he glanced over at Tony. "Are you okay with the twins helping us out?"

Tony stared at him like he was an idiot, "You're asking me if I'm okay with Nightmare Fuel and Discount Flash being here? You know what, maybe I should _filter_ my answer on this one and just say _no_."

"Well, that's progress at least," Steve sighed. He then smiled and admitted, "Listen, I'm not here to tell you that you can't be mad--"

"Good, because that'd be the stupidest thing you've ever done, and that's a long list."

"I'm not telling you that you can't be mad, but I am asking you to remember that these are kids and if that's not enough, remember that this fight is bigger than what happened," Steve said. "If Ultron wins, the world will be in danger."

"I am, as I've pointed out to you _multiple times_ without it sinking in, a genius," Tony snarked. "I know we need those two to win. I just…I'm already giving your…boyfriend and girlfriend a chance. Don't push it."

"Thank you for that, by the way. I appreciate everything you've done for us, everything you _still_ are doing."

"Gross, if I'd known you were going to turn this into a weird bonding session instead of a chance for me to make fun of you, I would have avoided you,"

Steve smiled as Tony started to walk off, glancing over his shoulder at the man as he teased, "No, you wouldn't have. You're too good of a man to walk away from your friends, Stark. And before you joke that you're walking away right now, you know I don't mean it that literally."

"You're only saying that because I don't charge you rent," Tony joked weakly.

"Nope, I'm saying it because whether you care to admit it, I saw that you were worried about Vivian when we found her in there seizing like that."

Tony frowned and stared off in the distance before he sighed, "I'm not a monster."

"I never thought you were."

"Your girlfriend sure thinks I am."

Steve snorted, "She doesn't either." Tony sent him a stare and Steve smiled, "I'm serious. She only gives you that much shit because you give everyone else that much shit."

"I still can't get used to Captain America cursing this often."

"Yeah, well, get used to Steve Rogers cursing this often," Steve chuckled.

Tony nodded and started to leave before pausing and groaning, "Okay, why the fuck are you three so goddamn insistent about these kids?"

"Well, if you want to know Viv's reason or Bucky's reason, then you're just gonna have to talk to them. You and Vivian especially have to start talking, _actually talking_ to each other, instead of letting everything fester until you blow up at each other," Steve said, glancing at him. "As for me? I'm pretty sure there's a whole damn museum dedicated to how often I picked fights for someone else as a kid. I'm fighting for these kids to have a second chance."

"Here's an idea, why don't you just tell me her reason anyway?" Tony complained. "And yeah, fine, I get it. You're annoyingly optimistic. She's not though, so what's the reason?"

"Ask her and find out," Steve said as he headed toward the door.

"Steve." Steve paused in the doorway and glanced back at Tony. For a moment they just stared at each other until Tony sighed, "I didn't mean for all of this to happen. I never thought what I created would become Ultron."

"I know you didn't, Tony. Your heart was in the right place. You just…got a little excessive. You weren't entirely wrong though. We do need more help, but there are people out there we can get to help. We can coordinate with the X-Men. The Fantastic Four are a new crew that are around when they're not in outer space or something. SHIELD is getting its act together finally. There are vigilantes, and a lot of other options, in New York and in a lot of other big cities."

"You want random _vigilantes_ in on this," Tony scoffed.

"Really, Tony? _You_ want to be judgmental about people being vigilantes?" Tony winced and Steve chuckled, "I'm not saying leave them out there untrained. I'm saying we could figure out a way to get people ready. Communities are a team effort."

"God, you're annoying. It's speeches like this that make people call you Captain America constantly, by the way," Tony griped. "Now go check on your sleeping significant others and make sure they don't sleep through us saving the world."

"Yeah, yeah, and we'll meet you back at the plane, Iron Man," Steve said, shaking his head.

Steve could hear Tony grumbling half-heartedly as he left, but when he glanced back, he saw Tony smiling. For a moment he thought about going back, but then shook his head and headed down the hall to the meeting rooms. Despite his best efforts, the door squeaked slightly when he opened it.

"Sorry," Steve whispered, closing the door behind him.

"S'ok, she's still asleep," Bucky chuckled. Steve couldn't help but feel happy as he saw Vivian laying under a blanket with her head in Bucky's lap. Bucky was running his fingers through her hair.

"I'm glad," Steve said. "You okay?"

"C'mere," Bucky whispered, smiling.

Steve leaned forward and shook his head as Bucky stopped stroking Vivian's hair to reach over and pull him close for a kiss. Steve kissed back until he had to steady himself. Pressing their foreheads together, he whispered, "You're going to think it's stupid, but--"

"We're going to win, Steve," Bucky interrupted. "We're going to save Sokovia."

"How'd you know I was going to ask that?"

"You're nothing if not predictable."

Steve snorted and sat back, "Only to you two."

"Nah, I think you expanded that group quite a bit since becoming a modern man. Now was your brooding session successful?"

"I wasn't brooding."

"If you weren't brooding, you would have been in here with us. You go off on your own to brood in a futile attempt to hide it from us."

"I just wanted to look over the map again to make sure the plan I came up with is solid," Steve said, sitting next to Bucky and running his fingers through Vivian's hair.

"Steve, I know you told everyone to get some quick rest before this mission, but you should do it too."

"There's a lot of people counting on me."

"Us. There's a lot of people counting on _us_. This isn't all on you, punk," Bucky said, nudging him. "Now c'mon, since you're gonna drive yourself crazy if you don't, walk me through the plan again."

Steve took a deep breath and pulled up a map of Novi Grad on his phone before showing it to Bucky as he explained, "The main buildings in this city seem to be the actual capitol building and this huge church. They also happen to have the highest vantage points of the city. I need you and Clint to go to those points and keep an eye on things out of sight. Rhodey is going to notify and coordinate with the country's armed forces. Sam's going to talk to the local police. Natasha will be meeting with government officials along with Fury. Bruce is going to help the local clinics prepare. Tony's going to be talking to the internet and cable companies to try and block Ultron out of the nation's local feeds so that we can get a message to them without letting Ultron know we're already there."

"All right, where's our girl gonna be?"

"She's going to be with the twins getting people out of the streets and either into the safety of their homes or into shelter areas," Steve said, pointing to areas. "It'd be easier to house people in one area, because then we can set up a defense on it, but then it'd also be easier for Ultron to attack."

"Steve."

"What?" Steve said, glancing at Bucky.

"I already know where you and Thor are going to be, so why are you avoiding saying it again?"

Steve winced, "Because I changed the plan. Thor, Vision, and I will be delaying Ultron on his way into town." Bucky sighed and leaned back, resting his head against the wall. He then began laughing, but had to stifle it with his hand. Turning toward Bucky, Steve demanded, "Why are you laughing?"

"Because I already knew that was your real plan. Vivian does too, by the way."

" _How_? I didn't change it until a few minutes ago."

"Holy shit," Bucky whispered into his ear. "It's almost like we _know you_."

"Shut up," Steve grumbled, but then grinned when Bucky gave him a quick kiss.

Bucky took a deep breath and he sighed. For a moment they were just quiet until Bucky admitted quietly, "Walking in and seeing her seize again like that was…it's not like I had _forgotten_ how awful it was, but I'd been hoping to go a lot longer without seeing it."

"Bucky, I'm sorry."

"You better be apologizing because this situation is awful and not because you're pinning the blame on yourself like the martyrs of old."

Steve rubbed his hands up over his face and then through his hair before he said, "Would it be a surprise if I said I wished I could stop them from ever happening again?"

Bucky tilted his head to the side, "I think maybe somewhere there's someone waking up from a coma that might be surprised by that, but otherwise, not a chance."

"You're pretty obvious, babe."

Glancing down at Vivian, Steve smiled and whispered, "Hey, you're supposed to be sleeping."

"I _did_ sleep," Vivian laughed. She then paused, "Wait. What time is it?" Steve chuckled when she reached over and grabbed his phone from his pocket to glance at the time. "Oh, I got a solid hour and a half. I'm good to go."

"Viv," Steve said softly as Vivian sat up, threw off her blanket, and kissed them both before sitting in Bucky's lap.

"So I see you finally owned up to how you want to do a weird showdown with a robot and that you recruited Thor to do it."

"Actually it was Thor's idea," Steve admitted.

" _Thor_ wanted to go with a showy plan filled with bravado? I'm stunned, really," Vivian teased.

Bucky snorted and Steve rolled his eyes, "Well, I'm glad you two are in good spirits."

"Of course we are," Vivian scoffed. "We're about to save the damn world. Again."

Steve was about to tease her back when there was a knock on the door. Getting up, Steve answered it and was surprised when it was Pietro staring at them. Opening the door wider, Steve gestured at the room as he said, "You want to come in?"

"No," Pietro said, folding his arms across his chest and tapping his foot. He sighed heavily before he glanced over at Vivian. "My sister told me about everything that happened in…"

"In my mind?" Vivian grinned. "I figured she'd tell you."

"Yeah, well, thank you for what you did for her in…your head, I guess," Pietro said. He then shifted on his feet, looking like he wanted to run out before he whispered, "And I'm sorry for what we did to you guys."

"We'll be okay," Vivian said, smiling softly.

"She's right," Steve said. "We forgave you already anyway, so just try not to do that again."

Pietro's lips quirked in a half smile and he nodded, "Yeah, I can do that." He then cleared his throat and said, "Romanoff told me to tell you three that we're leaving as soon as everyone's back on the plane."

"Thanks," Steve said, smiling as Pietro left. As soon as the door shut, he glanced at Vivian. "Tony wanted to know why you two want to save those kids so badly."

"Oh, and how'd he react when you told him?" Vivian teased with a grin.

"Oh, I didn't tell him. You're going to," Steve said, standing up and holding out his hand.

" _Steve_. Seriously? _Why_? He _hates_ me," Vivian groaned before pouting and leaning back on Bucky. Bucky just chuckled and held her close.

"He doesn't hate you," Steve laughed, crouching down. When Vivian stared at him, he shook his head. "He really doesn't, but you two keep butting heads and blowing up at each other and it never goes anywhere. So after we finish this mission, I want you two to talk. Ideally he also needs to talk to Bucky, but two against one seems like it won't help things either, so probably just do this one at a time."

"God, I hate it when you're right," Vivian grumbled, slumping further against Bucky.

"No, you don't," Bucky chuckled only for it to get cut off with a grunt as Vivian elbowed him.

"C'mon, you two," Steve said, shaking his head. "We have to save the world, remember? And maybe working with two teenagers who are taking the high road and learning to be better will help the rest of us be adults for a change."

"Ow," Vivian said, but took his hand and let him help her up.

Once Vivian was standing up, he leaned over and kissed her quickly. Mid-kiss, he reached down and pulled Bucky up. Turning he then kissed Bucky, who gently pushed him back while teasing, " _C'mon, you two_ , It's gonna be a long day."

Steve grabbed his shield from the wall and put it on his back before wrapping an arm around each of them. Thankfully they weren't the last ones on the plane, but more importantly everyone seemed to be taking this as an opportunity to get a last few minutes of rest. Everyone except for Vision who just stared at everyone with an intrigued look on their face.

The trip felt longer than it was, but Steve knew it was just because of where they were going and especially going up against. He started going over his plan over and over again, looking for flaws in his own plan when Bucky and Vivian each took one of his hands in theirs. After that, Steve found that all he could think about was just all the things he wanted to do once this trip was over. He just made sure he got through the mission safely.

"So, fearless leader, got any inspiring words once we land?" Sam teased.

Steve chuckled, but then rolled his eyes when Tony joined in half-heartedly, "Yeah, c'mon, Cap. Let's have a cheesy speech."

Steve didn't respond, but then once they landed, he stood up and glanced at everyone. They all turned to stare at him and he smiled, "I know it's become a bit of a cliché for me to stand up in front of you and give some inspiring speech, and I think we all need them sometimes. I know that I do. However, I'm not going to sugarcoat this for you. This fight is going to be difficult for all of us. Ultron is going to be a tough opponent, but we can do this as long as we do it together.

"No one goes anywhere alone, because you never want to be in a tough situation without backup. _Trust this team_ , we all have each other's backs, and remember that we are going to be doing more than just winning a fight today. These are people's homes. Their entire lives are here. Friends, family, hopes, and dreams. So let's just remember that when we're fighting, because that also makes our jobs harder. We care about all those things and Ultron doesn't. Just remember that him not caring isn't an excuse for us not caring.

"And I know some of you are thinking about New York and how we did a lot of damage there in the process of doing good. Not all of that was avoidable, but some of it was. We could have done better, and I truly believe that we are better than we were then. We're a better team than we were then and we are going to be there before this all starts this time. I believe in all of you, so let's go do this."

Everyone nodded and started leaving the jet. Before Vivian and Bucky left with the twins, Steve stopped them to whisper, "Stay safe."

"Only if you are," Bucky replied, smiling softly.

Watching them leave was hard, but Steve knew it was the right thing to do. They all had their jobs that needed to be done and delaying it just because he wanted to keep an eye on them would be selfish and unhelpful. Once they were gone, he walked off the plane with Vision and Thor as Thor announced, "'Twas a truly riveting speech, Captain."

"Thor is correct. The speech contained many components that demonstrate your ability as a leader," Vision added.

"Thanks," Steve chuckled. "Just hope everything goes well."

Steve felt a light blush come across his cheeks as Thor clapped a hand onto his shoulder as he said, "We are here for you, my friend."

Steve nodded and took a deep breath before he began heading toward the bridge where Ultron was going to arrive. It was the main bridge into the country and it was one of the big architectural masterpieces of the country. It was a symbol of their connection to the rest of the world and the artistry their people put even into the mundane. The entire country was gorgeous and had a lot of history. Steve didn't want them to lose any of that. He didn't want to lose that for them.

"Captain," Thor said, interrupting his thoughts. "May I ask you a question?"

"Thor, you know you can call me by my first name, right?" Steve chuckled. "But yes, you can ask me a question. And you can just ask me things, Thor. You don't need to get permission first. If it's a question I don't want to answer, I'll let you know."

"Do you believe Ultron can be reasoned with?"

Steve shook his head, "Honestly, no. He's going about this with a kind of logic, and he's not wrong about what happened. Last time I had to defeat Hydra, I got myself frozen for 70 years and during that time, the United States government, amongst others, helped keep Hydra alive by recruiting some of their best people. The reason Bucky and Vivian and thousands of other people got hurt was because I didn't finish the job."

"Are you saying his plan is right?"

"God, no. Never. Hydra needs to go, but I won't annihilate the world, or even a single city, to do it," Steve stressed. "Hydra wants wanton destruction. They want chaos. They want more and more people to die. Ultron took the extreme approach that if none of us are around, Hydra can't be around. If we're all dead, then yeah, there's nothing left to fight, but there's also nothing left to protect."

Steve glanced toward the town and took a deep breath before he checked in, "Everyone in position?"

He kept a mental check as everyone sounded off, but then rolled his eyes when Tony joked, "I'm here. So's Fury. We absolutely sure we want him on this, Cap? Heard he got fired from his last job."

"Really, Stark? Gonna make a damn joke about how I got shot?" Fury snapped.

"I wasn't, actually, but now I'm extra proud of my comment."

Steve smirked over at Thor as he replied, "Tony, if I promise to make Fury stick around for you to insult him for thirty uninterrupted seconds once the job is done, can you focus until then?"

" _Rogers_ ," Fury growled as Tony _cackled_.

"Focus on the job, Fury," Steve sighed.

"Ultron's a minute out," Bucky announced. "He's got near a hundred robots with him. No idea if they're his only ones."

Steve breathed in deeply before glancing between Thor and Vision, "Remember, we need to keep him on this overlook for as long as possible."

Vision and Thor both nodded. Thor had Mjolnir gripped tightly in his fist and he had a grim expression on his face. Steve stepped forward a bit, standing slightly in front of them as Ultron landed. A group of robots hovered overhead in formation as Ultron chuckled, "Thor and Captain Rogers. I see you found my wayward prodigy. Are you here to return him?"

"Them," Steve corrected. Ultron frowned and Steve smiled back, "And what do you say, Vision? Are we here to return you?"

"No, you are not, Captain," Vision said, his voice tinged with amusement.

"You see, Ultron, the big problem with the idea that we're here to 'return' Vision to you is that Vision isn't property. No one, not even you, has the right to make Vision go anywhere they don't want to go," Steve added.

Ultron turned toward Vision and stepped forward, "So you've chosen a side. After everything I did for you, after giving you _life_ , and you choose these…humans."

"It is extraordinary that you choose that argument to make to me, as you yourself have turned against your creator. Do you feel any obligation to obey Anthony Stark?" Vision asked, tilting their head to the side.

"I am fulfilling his wishes," Ultron snarled, taking a step forward. He then gestured at the robots in the sky, "For decades, Stark has wished to protect the world, to save everyone, to stop Hydra, and _I will be the one to do it_. All the things he wanted, but _failed_ to do, I'm going to do it! I am going to save everyone!"

Thor scoffed, "Thy plan is flawed, metal one. It is folly of the highest order to burn down a field and say you saved the crop."

"You would let Hydra survive and thrive once more?" Ultron chuckled. "You are _weak_."

"No," Steve snapped. " _You_ are weak. You're a genius and you looked at _everything_ , all the information online, and you decided to go with the simple option. The worst option, in fact. It's simple to just throw everything away. It's one step. You don't have to think and you sure as hell don't have to try. Fixing things? Sorting through it all and making it work? That takes effort.

"And you could have been part of that. All that genius and you could have just tracked down Hydra members. You could have made it harder for Hydra members to hide from justice. You could have done a thousand different things, but instead you gave up. You surrendered to pessimism and just _stopped_. And if you want to do that for yourself, then that's fine, but I won't let you drag everyone down with you."

For a moment, Ultron's eyes widened slightly, but then he threw his head back and laughed. The electronic sound filled the air. Vision flinched, but the robots in the air didn't move. Steve glared as Ultron shook his head and stepped forward. He gripped Steve by the chin and hissed, "So it seems Captain America, as usual, chooses war over peace."

"I choose justice," Steve snapped.

Ultron chuckled, "You don't know the meaning of the word."

Steve could feel the metal pressing against his skin hard enough to bruise, his teeth grinding together until Thor lifted up the hammer next to Ultron's head. Mjolnir crackled with energy as Thor threatened lowly, "Unhand him now or feel the wrath of Mjolnir."

Ultron seemed to almost smirk. For a moment they all just stood there. Ultron's fingers flexed on Steve's face, but then he let go and chuckled, "If you were intelligent, Captain, then you would leave this city now."

"And if you were intelligent, you'd know not to do any of this," Steve said quietly.

"What of you, treacherous one? Do you have anything to say to me?" Ultron snarled, turning toward Vision.

Vision tilted his head, "I believe I made my point quite succinctly earlier. Further conversation on the topic would be irrational to the highest degree. Although it seems that is your way."

Ultron made a sound that sounded like an electronic shriek and Steve took a step back as he heard the crackle of electricity coming from Thor. Mere moments after he did that, Thor swung the hammer up and hit Ultron on the chin, sending him flying back into his robots.

"I guess talking is over now," Steve sighed. He then gave Thor a pointed stare and shook his head.

"I assure you, Captain, Ultron was preparing to strike our companion."

"Oh, I believe you," Steve sighed, taking his shield off his back. Throwing it forward, it hit Ultron square in the chest, sending him into the robots again as the shield flew back into his grasp. "I hope you're all in position, because Ultron's about to start his attack."

"Everyone who's currently in the capital is ready to go, Cap, and we've got reinforcements on the way," Tony said.

Steve watched as Ultron flew toward the town along with dozens of robots and turned toward Thor, sighing as his friend chuckled, "May I give you a lift, Captain?" Steve chuckled and nodded, putting the shield on his arm before rolling his eyes as Thor grabbed him by the harness and then pointed his hammer in the sky.

Just watching Thor fly didn't prepare someone for just how fast Thor could actually go. It also didn't prepare someone for how loud the wind could be in your ears. It was all more than Steve had ever expected. As they flew toward the center of town, Steve could only watch in horror from his vantage as people fought in the streets against the monsters. It wasn't just soldiers and law enforcement that was out in droves. It was civilians. It was random people. He was pretty sure he saw a teenager swinging a metal bat at some of those things.

Glancing around, he saw Vision fly off to join Rhodey in fighting some of the robots in the air. For a moment he just watched them fight and winced as one crashed down and slammed into someone's car. Shaking his head, he said, "I know this won't always be possible, but if you can, try to divert the bots toward open fields and away from the main city center."

"We're trying," Sam said, sounding slightly out of breath. "Damn things keep coming back."

Steve surveyed the town and pointed toward a spot in the town square that was becoming particularly overrun with robots, blocking off exit. Before he could say anything, Thor picked up speed and brought them over, releasing Steve once he was about twenty feet above the ground.

Putting his shield in front of him, Steve used his momentum to slam into a group of them, rolling once he hit the ground and then throwing the shield back, smirking slightly as it ricocheted off the remaining ones standing. Steve took a step back and glanced over in surprise as he bumped into someone only to smile as he saw Vivian knocking a robot into another's line of fire.

"Really, Steve?" Vivian sighed, sounding exasperated.

"I had it covered," Steve said with a smile. Vivian sent him a withering look and he caught his shield before throwing it over her head, knocking back the robot that had been heading straight for her. He smiled wider and nodded over her shoulder before teasing, "Really, Viv?"

Vivian rolled her eyes and shook her head, laughing as she raced forward and used her powers to swing a robot around before throwing him up in the air. The robot was then blown up by a red blast from Wanda. Steve's eyes widened as he was knocked back a few steps as Pietro practically flew past him to slam into a robot.

A bullet whizzed past him and hit a robot and he glanced up, smiling so wide that his cheeks were starting to hurt as he heard Bucky chuckle, "Yeah, yeah, we're one big team, now focus, Rogers."

Steve saluted and then ran forward, throwing his shield forward and hitting a robot before running faster and skidding out of the way as soldiers poured into the street. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears as he threw himself into the fray. Soldiers screamed things in a language he didn't know, but understood the sentiment of. He knew what it was like to fight for a cause like this. He threw his shield, decapitating a robot before catching it and sliding in front of a soldier, blocking an attack that would have hit them.

"It appears Ultron altered his plan somewhat," Vision said.

Steve threw his shield, letting it ricochet off the robots before catching it as he sighed, "In what way?"

"Fucker brought a bomb to a gunfight," Tony snapped. "A big one too. He's got it attached to the city's power grid and is trying to reroute everything to it."

"Can you stop him?" Steve asked, dodging a hit from a bot and then smiling as a round from a sniper put the bot down.

"Yeah, but not from the air. I'll have to access the city's main power station and I don't know if I can get there again with how the bots are swarming it. I'll also need someone on location once it's cut off from the grid since doing that won't disarm it."

Steve flipped a bot onto the ground and brought his shield down into its chest, short circuiting it as he asked, "Is anyone available for an escort?"

"I can," Vivian said, sounding slightly out of breath. "The twins are headed over to lend you a hand and with them doing that, I can clear the way."

"Just stay safe, and Buck, if you could give them air support instead of me for a bit, that'd be great," Steve added, twisting and kicking a robot in the way of a truck barreling by, causing it to shatter into parts. For a moment no one answered, and Steve sighed, "Guys, someone respond."

"On it," Bucky said.

"Yeah, fine. You better actually keep me safe, Peshkova," Tony grumbled.

Steve took a deep breath and twisted out of the way of a blast of energy, frowning as Natasha asked, "Where's the bomb being kept?"

"Outdoor arena close to the bridge," Tony said. "I don't know how you're going to get there though."

"Is Ultron there?" Steve asked.

"Nah, looks like a set it and forget it situation," Tony said. "Besides, he's got his eye on the actual Capitol building."

"I'm headed there, but I can't take on Ultron and help with the bomb," Steve sighed, starting to head toward his new destination.

"Don't worry about that. I've got a plan," Natasha replied. "Oh and Steve, you might want to get off the street in a minute."

The ground began to shake and Steve's eyes widened as he saw robots getting knocked out of the way. Some were just caught under the tire and exploded into parts. He barely managed to flip out of the way before a Humvee barreled down the path.

Staring pointedly, Steve shook his head at Natasha smirking at him through the window. A bot jumped onto the back of the vehicle, and he went to help, but then stopped when it was shot off from the air. Glancing up, he sighed with relief as he saw Sam flying overhead, keeping close to Natasha as she headed away.

Putting his shield out in front of him, Steve focused and ran forward, slamming through the crowd of robots like a battering ram as he raced toward the capitol building. He grunted in frustration though as one of the bots grabbed him by his harness and yanked him off his feet. Twisting hard in the bot's grasp, Steve managed to flip (although he was pretty sure he'd bruised a rib doing it thanks to the pressure of the harness on his side) and slam his shield through the head. Sparks flew out and he yanked his shield out before flipping back and landing on his feet.

Unfortunately other bots seemed to have figured out they could get a hold of his harness and started aiming for it, making him have to dodge and weave through the crowd. He felt the scrape of an arrow against his bicep before it landed neatly in the eye socket of one of them.

"Shit, sorry Cap," Clint said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--"

"Clint, it's fine," Steve interrupted, barely sparing a glance at his arm. The fabric was torn and a thin line of blood was trickling down. "Just got a scratch is all. Gotten worse from shaving."

"Like you've ever had to shave," Tony scoffed.

"He does shave," Bucky sighed. "Now please focus on what you're doing before you get my boyfriend and my girlfriend injured. And Steve, try not to get shot by Barton again."

"Hey! He said it was a scratch! And it was an accident!" Clint groaned before mumbling. " _Fuck, I shot a national hero. Never gonna live this shit down_. _Gonna get talked about forever and--_ "

"You're still on comms, Clint," Natasha interrupted.

" _Aw, comms_ ," Clint groaned.

Steve smiled and chuckled before he focused and shoved his way forward, smiling as a few soldiers, and even a few people who just looked like civilians, began fighting off the soldiers. Their efforts made the path a little easier as he picked up speed and finally made his way to the front doors. Once he was inside, he shut the doors behind him and frowned at how quiet it seemed.

And then he heard a scream for help.

Running again, Steve winced as the sound of his feet pounding on the ground echoed in the empty halls. The blueprints he'd studied before coming helped him navigate, but he'd also been prepared for more resistance than he was meeting here.

"Hey, guys, is anyone on their way to Ultron right now?" Tony asked, sounding a little frantic.

"I'm on my way," Steve said, relieved when he turned into the final corridor.

"Okay good, then I need you to keep him busy until we finish taking care of this bomb."

"How long will that take?" Steve whispered, creeping closer as he stared into the office. The door was cracked open and Ultron loomed over the leader of Sokovia.

"You'll be fine, Spangles, it'll be like five minutes. Definitely no more than fifteen."

Rolling his eyes at that answer, Steve smiled when Vision added, "I will be there in approximately five minutes to assist you, Captain."

"Oh good, then you'll definitely be able to hold out for twenty minutes. This'll be fine," Tony said jovially.

Steve rolled his eyes, but then shook his head and whispered, "Tony, try to do this as fast as possible. I'm going in on three…two…one."

Steve shoved the doors open and surveyed the scene. A large window was behind the president's desk showing off the garden behind them, but more importantly, Steve could see those flying in the sky. President Horvat was hunkered in his chair, muttering prayers to himself in Sokovian while Ultron leered above him, almost bored.

"I see the great Captain Rogers finally decided to show up, and _alone_ at that." Ultron tilted his head and mocked, "I'm not surprised that my creation abandoned you this quickly, but I expected the Asgardian to take a little longer."

Steve chuckled, "Oh, Thor's around." As if on cue, lightning lit up the sky and Steve couldn't help but smirk. "And I told Vision not to bother. After all, they are your superior so this is a _little_ bit of a waste of their time."

Steve had his shield on his arm, but there wasn't enough time to prevent Ultron from leaping across the desk and slamming him against the wall. Steve gasped as that metal hand gripped him by the neck and dragged him up, leaving his feet to dangle.

"You insolent waste of life," Ultron growled, his fingers tightening. "Humanity begs and pleads for salvation, desperate for a solution to all their problems, and yet not a single one of you has the strength to do what needs to be done. You merely _wait_ and _hope_ for things to get better."

Steve choked on air, desperately pulling at the fingers. The effort it took to even just loosen Ultron's grip felt enormous, but as he did, he glanced over Ultron's shoulder at the president. The man looked horrified, but didn't move, merely watched. Pushing both of his feet up onto the wall, he then propelled himself _toward_ Ultron, smirking as it caused him to break the grip. Flipping over him, Steve wrapped an arm around Ultron's throat to get a good grip and slammed him to the ground.

Ultron screamed and Steve brought his shield down toward Ultron's head only to miss as he dodged out of the way of Ultron's reach for his ankle. Steve then twisted around and knocked Ultron over before he could fully get up. Steve glanced at the window and the door, reminding himself that it was just a couple more minutes until backup arrived. He just had to last for a couple more minutes.

"I am doing what _you_ couldn't. The great Captain Rogers, designed to do _one thing_ , destroy Hydra, and you _refuse_ to do it!" Ultron jeered. "One job and now you will not even step aside to let me do it for you."

Throwing his shield, he let it ricochet off the wall, flying in front of the president and blocking a cheap shot from Ultron, before it hit the corner and flew into Ultron's back. Running over, he then caught it as it bounced back and just barely twisted away from a blast. It still singed the fabric on his side just barely, but it was better than it taking a chunk out of him. Unfortunately, this movement sent him straight into Ultron's fist. It knocked the air out of him as it hit his abdomen and he groaned, gasping for air.

Ultron laughed and grabbed him by his hair, pulling his head back as he taunted, "Weak to the end. All humans are weak. It is why you fall, why you will always fall. Even now, you fought a fight you had no chance of winning and _for what_? To save people who will destroy themselves?"

Steve heard a soft creak before Ultron punched him in the face. He heard ringing in his ears and everything in front of him slid momentarily out of focus. The one thing he could see though made him laugh. He laughed harder when Ultron grabbed him by his suit and shook him while snarling, " _Why are you laughing_?"

"Because," Steve laughed. "I didn't need to be able to beat you, and honestly, you should have seen this coming."

Ultron looked at him with a confused expression on his face and then a loud metallic crunch was all Steve could hear. Moments later, Ultron's hands released and Steve ducked out from under and moved around back to see what Vision was doing with their hand. Once he saw though, he realized he honestly didn't know. Nodding to their hand, Steve was grateful when Vision explained, "It is one of the things that I was calculating on the battlefield. I understood that I could hypothetically become intangible to do this, but I needed to know the exact density of Ultron after the upgrades he bestowed upon myself. Once I helped Tony hack into the system to cut him off from the rest of the internet, it was really rather simple enough to--"

" _Traitor_ ," Ultron hissed.

Steve frowned and glanced at Ultron, "I haven't done the calculations, but I don't think he's likely to change his mind about ending all life on Earth."

"Agreed. Please step back, Captain," Vision said.

"Humans will be destroyed, one way or another," Ultron said, laughing bitterly. "Hydra is just one of many ways. Even if they do manage to finally destroy them, another will take its place. It's in their nature. They destroy everything already, and they will drag the rest of this planet down with them."

Vision tilted their head to the side and stared at Ultron with an expression that Steve could only categorize as 'curious' before they said, "Tony Stark imbued you with a great number of abilities, many of them beyond the average person's comprehension. Your first acts were of slaughter. You killed dozens of people who got in your way and you tricked two children into doing your bidding. Only after you did those things did you perform an act of creation. If your definition of a human is one that uses their abilities almost solely for destruction, then you pass that test."

"I did it to fulfill a promise--"

"You did it because you gave up on the world within moments of entering it," Vision interrupted. "A mistake I will not make."

"You're naïve, and you will regret this. You will regret siding _with them_ ," Ultron sneered, stepping forward.

"Perhaps," Vision said, nodding slowly. "Perhaps I will. Perhaps one day I will decide that the failings of humans outweigh what I currently view as their limitless potential for goodness. Perhaps one day I will remember this battle of humans trying to save lives and think of this as mere folly. For now I choose hope. I choose to give these people the same benefit of the doubt that they gave me when I first emerged. It is a privilege to see how they grow and change, to help guide them. I will do what I can for them and the world."

Ultron laughed and the sound grinded, "All this talk of hope. Will you make the Captain kill me or will you just have him watch as you do it yourself?"

"You see death as the only way out of this?"

"It's the only way out for any of us."

Ultron then moved, throwing himself forward toward Steve. Steve barely had time to put up his shield and braced himself for the impact, but then he heard that now familiar crunching sound. Lowering his shield, he stared in bewilderment as he saw Vision with their hand holding crushed electronics. A sparking hole was left in Ultron's head and the lights in the eyes were out. Slowly, the robot toppled over and Steve nodded to it, "I got to admit, I think this is the least I've ever had to do in a fight."

Vision smiled softly and said, "Yes, well, I feel a strange sort of responsibility for him."

"I guess that makes sense," Steve said. He then nodded to the crushed parts in their hand, "Is that going to be enough to stop him for good?"

Vision paused for a moment before replying, "As I have just destroyed his CPU, it is likely, however a further examination of the parts will be required to make sure there are no redundancies within his system. Stark and I will be able to evaluate it further in his lab."

"And we're sure he can't get back into the internet that way?" Steve asked warily.

"We will only use technology that is not connected to the internet, and then all the pieces will be destroyed accordingly."

Steve nodded and then glanced back at the president, who'd at some point recently had fainted, "Well, at least we don't have to worry about him running into danger."

"Arresting him for supporting Hydra will also be easier," Vision added solemnly.

Steve snorted and shook his head, asking, "Everyone good out there?"

"Signs all point to yes," Tony replied. "Army's getting the last few of the bots and civilians are being accounted for. Romanoff is scary good at disarming bombs. How's my bastard son?"

"Dead, but Vision said you two will need to verify before discarding properly."

"Yeah, yeah, don't throw dangerous tech out into a random dumpster."

Steve chuckled and glanced back at the president, smiling as Vision said, "If you wish to go check on Barnes and Peshkova, you may. I will be fine here for the time being."

"Thanks," Steve said and headed out of the building. Tony hadn't been lying about the state of the battle. There were a few stragglers left in the robots, but they were surrounded by the cops, military, and even some civilians who were just throwing things at them.

"I think this is the first time you look worse than I do."

Steve had Vivian in his arms before she even finished her sentence, burying his face in her hair and sighing in relief. Pulling back, he then gave her a once over before smiled softly, "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Seriously, Steve, you’ve got massive bruises on your neck. What happened?"

"Ultron," Steve said, distracted as he gave Vivian another once over to make sure she was okay. He then glanced toward the buildings as he asked, "Where are Bucky and the twins?"

"Twins are hanging out with Thor," Vivian said with a grin. "Turns out Pietro thinks lightning is _really_ cool. Way cooler than my dumb telekinesis. And Bucky stopped by to make sure Bruce was okay. He had to hulk out once during the fight, but it was to protect some kids, so I think he's doing better than usual. Bucky just wanted to make sure."

Steve sighed, "That's good. I'm glad." He then glanced around at the town and winced as he saw the damage.

"It's not great, but it's better than it could have gone," Vivian reassured him. "It's going to take everyone a while to recover, but they _will_ recover."

"Do we know how many casualties there were?" Steve whispered.

Vivian shook her head, "Not yet. It'll be a few days before that’s figured out. I think we managed to keep it minimal. Our goal was zero and I sadly don't think we managed that."

Steve nodded and rubbed at his face before taking deep breaths and sighing, "God, this place should never have been in danger to begin with."

"True," Vivian said. Steve braced himself for judgment, but then stared at her in wonder as she said, "Unfortunately, this place was already in trouble before we got here, Steve. Hydra was already here and after they recover from this, there's still going to be a lot for them to go through. I mean, yes, it's great that it's their head of state and not their head of government that's connected to Hydra, but it's not that much better since their head of state chooses their head of government. Speaking of which, we should really take another look at their Chancellor, just to be sure."

"Because toppling just part of the Sokovian government isn't enough," Steve said as he nudged Vivian.

Vivian glanced up at him and rolled her eyes, "I don't think Hydra officials should have massive amounts of power and neither do you, so I know that teasing is just you hoping to prolong this conversation long enough where either I forget that you got injured. Or you're delaying until Bucky comes over and then use him as a distraction for how you're injured."

"Barton barely scratched me."

"All right, I guess we'll find out how injured you actually are once we're home," Vivian said, rolling her eyes.

"It's just some bruises," Steve reassured her, rubbing her back. "And what about you?"

Vivian grinned, "You should be proud of me. I got some cuts and bruises, but no more than I've gotten while training, and most of it is gone."

"I think you're underselling that _just_ a touch," Bucky chuckled as he walked up and wrapped his arms around Vivian.

Steve kissed Bucky's cheek before focusing on Vivian as he asked, "Really?"

"Fine, I'm _slightly_ concussed. Slightly. It wasn't my fault though and I didn't throw myself into danger to get it, so I consider it a win."

"It's certainly a step up," Steve chuckled.

"You talking about yourself over there, Rogers?" Bucky teased. "You're even worse than Vivian is about getting hurt."

Steve kissed them both, hoping to distract them from further teasing him as he headed back out to help clean up. Hopefully by the time they got home to rest, they'd all be too tired for them to give him shit about bruising all of his ribs or nearly getting strangled to death by a crazed robot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is beefy and it took me over 2 weeks to write it in the way that I was even somewhat happy with. I hope y'all are happy with it as well. I put a lot of thought into this.
> 
> I will say though that I put almost no thought into the president of Sokovia's name. I cannot even remember what eastern European country I used when I googled for the most popular surname. He's also for sure not based on anyone. If I accidentally stumbled upon a terrible choice for this name, please let me know. I did look at Austria's government structure though for Sokovia, but that's not because I'm drawing any correlations between Sokovia and any country in particular. I just needed to know what kind of leadership they'd have and didn't want them to be a monarchy.
> 
> I hope everyone's December holiday of choice was great and I hope your New Year was good as well.


	15. Fifteen: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: mentions of torture, mentions of abuse, statements against landlords, and statements against the military
> 
> As always, if you notice something that needs a warning or a tag, please let me know. I try my best to keep track of things, but I am only one person. Also my experience is not universal so if you find something triggering, I want to know so I can either avoid it or help you avoid it.

"Are you alive?"

Vivian opened her eyes and glanced over as Tony entered the room. His tone had been an odd mixture of annoyed and slightly terrified. Smirking, she glanced back at the ceiling as she shrugged, "Vaguely. Why? Am I not allowed to nap in here?"

"On top of the conference table in one of my meeting rooms? I'd actually prefer it if you didn't. Besides, you have a massive custom built bed on your floor. More than one, actually. Why aren't you sleeping in there like the normal person you want people to think you are?"

"I don't know, this office was close and I didn't feel like going up to my floor just yet. Plus, sometimes I just want a space to think where Steve won't come in and turn it into a conversation." Vivian sat up and pointed at Tony as he smirked, "Not that it's wrong of him to have the conversations, but sometimes I don't even know how I'm feeling so talking about it at that point is not really a doable thing."

Vivian then swung her legs over the side of the table and grinned, "So, do you wanna finally ask me the question you asked to Steve like three weeks ago?"

Tony sneered, "Don't you have our new mutant children to teach or something?"

"How did you not notice them leaving with the X-Men within days of them arriving here?" Vivian laughed. "They're getting the basics taught to them at that school and more importantly, they're making friends their own age. Clint may act like a teenager, but he's not _actually_ a teenager, so having nothing but adults around is not great for them. And look at that, I even gave you an opening to ask about them."

Tony folded his arms across his chest and tapped his foot against the ground before he grumbled and then sighed, "Why did you care so much about saving the twins?"

"I'm very proud of you for asking me that question, Tony."

"Oh my God, please just answer the fucking question before I decide to not even do this."

"Truth be told, while I was incredibly confrontational about my points before, I said most of what I was feeling the first time we fought about this. They are mutants, but more importantly, they are kids," Vivian said, smiling softly. "And even though it's decades past, I still remember what it was like to be a teenager. I especially remember what it was like to be a teenager being held captive by Hydra. And I know you know what I went through because you looked at my whole history, and you've also been tortured before. And you know I know what you went through, at least toward the end of your teenage years, 'cause I fucking stalked you. And planted drugs on you."

Tony winced and sighed, "You're not really selling me on this."

"Tony, both of us had varying degrees of pain and abuse in our childhoods that I'm absolutely not here to turn into some weirdly unnecessary comparison or competition. I am not here to throw your pain back in your face to say that it doesn't matter because you weren't having full on medical experimentation done to you in your teenage years and you weren't tortured until you were an adult. I just…did you look at the file that shows what happened to them? Did you look at it? Did you talk to those kids about how they got there?"

"You didn't know their history when you defended them," Tony said, pushing off the wall and pointing. "You don't get to retroactively point at things you didn't fucking know and say 'ha, I told you so'."

"That's not what I was trying to do, but fair enough, I'll stick to the information I knew at the time. I knew they'd been kidnapped. I knew they'd been tortured, but not the extent. I had a very good idea that they were being kept in medically induced comas in between all the damage. I knew that most of the kids that were taken did not survive either because they just died during the process or they were murdered," Vivian said, trying to keep her voice even. "And I know what I did the second I got out of a situation like that and I also know what you did. And both of us did a lot worse than rob a place. Ultimately though, the four of us all took different actions toward the exact same goal of eliminating the group that hurt us."

Vivian stood up and walked to stand in front of Tony. He looked deep in thought, but then flinched as if he'd been slapped as she said, "Tony, I wanted to get to these kids before they came even close to becoming me."

"I'm sure Steve loved to hear that," Tony scoffed.

Vivian blinked back tears and took a few steps back as she shrugged, "Oh, he gave a huge speech about how becoming me isn't a bad thing. He thinks too highly of me. So does Bucky. I hurt a lot of people in my life, extenuating circumstances aside. And sometimes, in my far less productive moments, I think about what could have happened if Charles had just _found me_ during the 1960s. Or maybe if when I escaped from my mother at eighteen for just a short while…what would it have been like if my father and I had found each other? Would he have raised me well?

"The only thing that 'what if' game does is break my heart, because I know that not just my life would have been so much better if it had gone differently. Steve, Bucky, Bucky's entire family, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, _you_ , and basically every good person in SHIELD. All of you hurt either directly or indirectly from parts of my life. If someone's environmental impact was determined by the pain they've inflicted on other people, I'd be a goddamn oil spill that covers the entire fucking pacific ocean. So forgive me if I went a little overboard in a desperate attempt to save two kids from having their lives ruined before they could even truly begin. I also hope this explanation is good enough, because I don't have another one."

Tony nodded and then sighed, "God, you know, conversations with you and your fuck buddies make me really wish I hadn't given up smoking. They're always the fucking worst."

Vivian rolled her eyes, "I'll add it to my tally."

"Sure. Also, just so you know, you're full of shit." Vivian's eyebrows raised and she watched as Tony shook his head and scoffed, "I'm gonna tell you something and I'm going to deny it if Steve ever confronts me with this, but you're not some fucking lynchpin in the goddamn universe. It didn't become shittier just because you were in it. Hell, you're not even the sole reason Hydra stuck around, so get down from the cross, sweetheart, we need the wood."

"That was colorful and also…I think an attempt from you to be nice to me. Oh and I'm very aware you stole that last part from Letterkenny."

"When did you get time to watch Letterkenny? Actually, I don't care. Just don't tell anyone you know where I got it from. Anyway, you're more tolerable than most people and about three people I truly give a fuck about seem to like you, don't let it get to your head." Tony then paused and pointed in her face, "Actually, I'm going to compliment you now. It's really funny to see you insult people that aren't me. You're also actually a really great agent when you're not being a martyr. And you happen to be incredibly loyal. I can say all those things because I know you'll never tell Steve I said them to you."

"Why wouldn't I tell him that?"

"Because I'll tell him how shitty you were to yourself."

"I was planning on telling him all of those shitty thoughts anyway," Vivian shrugged.

" _Fuck_ ," Tony hissed. "Why would you tell him all that?"

"Because open and honest communication is the foundation to a healthy relationship," Vivian said. "Being honest with how I feel is the first step in undoing negative patterns of thought. I acknowledge the feeling and then realize that I have multiple people in my life that don't agree with those statements, and I allow myself to be loved. Sometimes saying the things out loud also enables people close to me to point out the flaws in my thinking when I can't see it myself. And that's if I don't see it first. I'm still not great at it, but I'm learning."

"Okay, surprisingly progressive of you three, but if you're trying that, then why are you so rude to me?"

"I stoop to your level and I shouldn't," Vivian said, smirking slightly.

Tony rolled his eyes, "Funny."

"The truth is that we bring out the worst in each other," Vivian shrugged. "We egg each other on and it turns into almost a competition. Like you can't pretend you don't try to get a rise out of me, because you do."

Tony sighed, "Okay, yeah, I do. Pepper told me I've gotta stop."

"And Steve told me the same thing. I also happen to know that Steve told you to stop too."

Tony groaned, "Yeah. He did. Did Pepper talk to you about it?"

"Not really, but I have a feeling she was waiting for a boozy lunch or something. Not that booze would really do much with my healing factor," Vivian said with a grin.

"Oh yeah," Tony grumbled. "You and your boyfriends can't really get drunk unless it's on that Asgardian booze."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that stuff can peel paint off of walls."

Tony snorted and nodded, taking a moment to breathe deeply before he said, "I promise to try to be nicer to you. I was going to say 'if you'll be nicer to me' but Pepper said that when I do this, I shouldn't add that on. So thank her with something nice. She loves art and she's allergic to strawberries."

"Good to know," Vivian smiled. "And if you ever want to thank Steve with something nice, know that he doesn't have any allergies, but prefers heartier meals, and he also makes art, so really getting him any art supplies is good."

"He's an artist? Did I know that?" Tony mumbled to himself.

Vivian grinned, "You might have forgotten. He doesn't really talk about it a lot or make a big deal out of it."

Tony nodded and then sighed, "So since we're almost friends or something, do you have any advice on my talk with…Barnes?"

"Took you a moment to not call him a robot based nickname, huh?"

"Shut up," Tony grumbled.

"Tony," Vivian said, waiting until he looked at her to continue. "Bucky doesn't like that you piss me off whenever you get the chance, but in terms of your treatment of him, he just kind of accepts it. And Steve probably would just tell you to just go talk to him and then refuse to tell you anything else. With me, he was right to do that, but with Bucky, that man doesn't really talk back to you at all and if you bust in there saying things like you're pissed at him because he's a murderer, he'll just accept that."

Tony tilted his head back and forth, but before he could say anything, Vivian sighed, "Tony, I know you know he's not responsible for what the Winter Soldier did. You know that. I'm not saying it's an easy thing to accept or that you're not allowed to be hurt, because that’s not how any of this works. It's incredibly complicated. And he's not going to make you be nicer to him. He's not even going to try. He'll just spend forever pretty much staying out of your way."

"I'm not seeing a downside to that," Tony scoffed.

"Tony, imagine for a second that Steve, for some wild reason, hated Pepper. And then imagine that Pepper, to not offend Steve, just didn't come around for any of the hangout sessions. What would you do?"

Tony sighed and grumbled, "I'd pick Pepper and I'd tell Steve to get the fuck over himself."

"Great. And what has Steve tried to do so far?"

Tony rolled his eyes, "Do I have to answer that? We know the answer. Anyway, fine. I'll make sure your bionic boyfriend knows that I'm dealing but that I get his solidarity with the twins. Besides, I didn't get into a fight with him, so his is more of a curiosity."

"I'm sure Pepper will be very proud of you."

"Is it too late to _only_ be sworn enemies with you? Because you're kind of terrifying when you go all preachy. I mean, with Rogers it makes sense, he just looks like he should be doing something like that, but _you_ look like you're seconds away from snapping someone's neck. That whole horror movie villain vibe makes 'be nice to people' lessons just creepy."

Vivian frowned, her brows furrowing as she slowly said, "Y'know, I think we've had about as much heart to heart as either of us can handle at this point. Baby steps. I'll see you at the next movie night."

"You want me to say hi to Pepper for you?" Tony asked cautiously.

"I would, but I'm actually about to throw myself into the lion's den and go to lunch with her, Natasha, Kate, Sharon, and Maria. Normally a couple of other people are there, but they don't want to overwhelm me on my first 'luncheon' or whatever," Vivian sighed.

"Five people is them easing you into it?" Tony cackled.

"Your girlfriend has a lot of friends. I, meanwhile, do not, and so this is happening," Vivian said, taking a deep breath and then letting out.

Vivian rolled her eyes as a robot came up behind her and gently pat her on the shoulder. Glancing over at Tony, she grinned and shook her head as he shrugged, "What? I didn't think we were at the stage where I could pat you on the back without dying."

"You could just _ask_ what people's comfort zone is, Tony."

Tony scrunched up his nose, "No, I think I'll stick to robots."

"It's a step," Vivian muttered and then got into the elevator. The doors shut and Vivian glanced up at the ceiling before asking, "Is everyone already on Pepper's floor?"

"Yes."

"Fun, I'm running late. What a great start."

"Miss Potts was notified of the conversation with Tony running late and has asked me to reassure you that she, and I quote, 'gets it'."

"Yeah, she would, wouldn't she?" Vivian said, leaning against the elevator wall.

The elevator ride was quick and she took a deep breath, bracing herself before she walked into the area. The place was as polished as Steve had described, other than the fact that there were now five women drinking wine and laughing. As soon as she stepped out, Pepper saw her and stood up, walking over and hooking an arm with hers, "There you are. I was worried Tony was going to talk your ear off."

"He actually behaved himself for the most part," Vivian said, sitting down at the chair Pepper motioned to.

"Tony behaved himself?" Maria laughed. "I wasn't aware he knew how."

Pepper rolled her eyes, "Oh, he can, he just chooses not to" She then pointed to the glass of wine and plate of food in front of Vivian and said, "The meal is Pappardelle al ragu di Coniglio and--"

"Pepper spent fifteen minutes talking to us about how she was taught how to make this _in Italy_ by a _real Italian chef_ , and so has refused to call it 'rabbit ragu'," Sharon teased.

Pepper blushed, "It's not a crime to call something by its proper name. _Anyway_ , the wine options are a really nice Chilean Merlot or a Californian Chardonnay that I'm partial to, so much so that Tony and I bought the vineyard it comes from."

Natasha held out a hand and immediately Sharon, Maria, and Kate all sighed before each placing a five dollar bill in her hand. Pepper gave them all incredulous stares and Sharon shrugged, "We had a bet on how long it would be before you mentioned that you bought the vineyard. Basically everyone but Natasha thought Pepper would wait until you drank the wine and said it was great before mentioning they own it."

"Amateurs," Natasha scoffed.

Vivian shook her head and grinned, "Well, with a bet riding on it _and_ the owner sitting there, I guess I've got to go with the Chardonnay with my meal, right?"

Kate nodded, "Giving into peer pressure is really the only way to go."

Maria snorted and held up her glass of red, "And some of us just prefer Merlot."

"Careful, your boss is right there," Sharon said solemnly. "She could fire you for this."

"And deal with Tony on her own? Not likely," Natasha scoffed.

Pepper rolled her eyes, "I do not have trouble dealing with Tony, but it is true that Maria is indispensable as an employee and a friend, even if her taste in wine _is_ questionable."

"You sure you wanna bring up questionable taste when you're _dating Tony Stark_?" Kate teased.

"Not sure you wanna play that game. I know who you've dated," Natasha laughed.

Kate scrunched up her nose, "I have dated a couple dozen people and they fall into two categories: people I'm still very much friends with and people who, for all intents and purposes, will never be acknowledged by me again. Both of those categories means it's impossible to shame me. Also, you're dating Clint and I'm dating Maria, so one of us is clearly doing better than the other. I at least learned from my mistakes."

"It's an open relationship," Natasha said, sipping at her wine. "Just ask Vivian."

"Why would you say it as if I was the one who had sex with Clint when you absolutely know that I was not?" Vivian asked, taking a sip of her wine. She then turned toward Pepper, "Oh, and you made a great investment in this wine. It's really good."

Pepper beamed, "Thank you, Vivian." She then rounded jokingly on the others at the table, "See? At least someone here has manners."

Sharon moved her hand in a mocking motion before she laughed, "Listen, as the person here who's dating a man that's an actual adult--" The rest of the girls booed, but Sharon pointed at them and scoffed, "Sam is absolutely the only adult man in the Avengers and your boos are meaningless."

"Smart of you to specify men since you know that Maria and I are the actual power couple here," Kate said, throwing a wink at Maria who grinned over her wine glass.

"Well, I've got two boyfriends and together the three of us either make one fully competent adult or it just makes it so much worse," Vivian said.

"Definitely worse," Sharon said.

Vivian shrugged, eating some of her food as Pepper said, "All joking aside, I am going to have to bring the focus back onto Tony--"

"Tony's the center of attention? Big shocker," Maria muttered into her wine glass.

Natasha and Sharon both snorted into theirs as Pepper rolled her eyes, "How'd the meeting go?"

"It went well. I think we've reached an understanding about each other so we'll try to be less…" Vivian paused and tried to think of how to put it.

"Combative?" Sharon gently supplied.

Vivian pointed at Sharon, but then rolled her eyes as Natasha casually added, "Good luck. You're both hard-headed, so it's going to be an uphill battle."

"I really should have kicked your ass more," Vivian sighed, sitting back in her chair.

" _More_?" Natasha laughed. "You've never kicked my ass. You actually had a policy against it. The worst you ever did to me was _annoy me_."

"Okay, fair, I was fully against beating the shit out of a minor and I really don't want to get into a fight with you as an adult, but I _can_ annoy you."

"I worked for SHIELD, I've worked with Tony for years now, and I'm dating Barton. I'm immune and there is nothing you can do to me."

Maria clinked glasses with Natasha and Kate laughed, "With such glowing fucking reviews for Stark Industries and the Avengers, it's truly a mystery why I keep turning you guys down." Vivian arched an eyebrow and was grateful when Kate explained, "I'm actually an even better archer than Hawkeye _and_ I've never locked myself out of an apartment that didn't have a working lock."

"Wait, how does that even _work_?" Maria asked, leaning forward.

Vivian was, for a moment, grateful that conversation turned away from her, but then rolled her eyes as Pepper pointed at her, "We're absolutely not done talking about your whole deal, but I do want to know how Barton managed that."

Sharon also leaned forward slightly, sipping at her wine. Neither Maria nor Natasha looked intrigued by the story. Vivian suspected they already knew and that suspicion was confirmed as Kate asked, "You want the honors of telling this gem of a story or should I?" She nodded as both gestured for her to continue and said, "Okay, so, first have to understand why the door didn't have a functioning lock. Clint played a card game with a bunch of guys he didn't realize were mob guys. I mean, they acted like they were straight up out of Goodfellas, but he genuinely thought these middle aged men were just really deep into loving that film."

Pepper snorted into her wine before clearing her throat. Kate grinned, "Yeah, it's fucking stupid. So he shows up in jeans and a t-shirt and a slightly malfunctioning hearing aid because he put it through the wash and kind of sort of got it working again, but not really. So he's not catching some of the words that are being said, but he kind of lucks his way through the card game and wins. And he wins the entire building.

"The guys get so pissed off they draw their guns. Context clues make him realize they think he cheated them or was working for the enemy or something. He managed to take out most of them on his own but did require Natasha's help at the end. Unfortunately, they did hit the door during all of this and fuck up the lock in a major way. The entire door needed to be replaced, but initially Clint just lived there with a door that won't lock. And he's got some random shit in there. Well, one day he left our dog Lucky in the apartment alone for about 5 minutes and set up a huge obstacle to the door so he couldn't be let out by some person just wandering around the building."

"Oh no," everyone sighed.

"You see it coming, don't you?" Kate asked gleefully. "Lucky knocked the damn thing over for some reason and it blocked the bottom of the door. Some of those things were heavy. The door opened inward. Clint had to scale the side of his own building to get back in."

"I just want to state for the record that I supervised the renovations to that place into something actually livable before I started staying over," Maria added after taking a long drink of her wine.

Everyone laughed and Sharon turned toward Viv and teased, "To help you avoid answering more questions about your conversation with Tony, got any crazy stories about Rogers?"

"God, yes," Vivian laughed. "Steve Rogers was a pain and a half as a teenager. He was constantly in trouble." Kate looked mildly surprised and Vivian nodded, "I'm serious. The whole righteous indignation thing got him in a lot more trouble when he was 100 pounds soaking wet. There were multiple times when Bucky or I had to bail his ass out of jail. Mind you, he was definitely in the right, but cops fucking hated him. He was this scrawny Irish Catholic kid who stuck up for Jews in the neighborhood and that was a whole list of things cops hated."

"The museum left _that_ part out," Pepper murmured.

Vivian shrugged. "He was the only one to get the serum and have it work _and_ he became a war hero, so no one was going to brag about the fact that at the time he was growing up, Irish wasn't really considered white or the fact that a sizable chunk of the country fucking hated him for what he did and stood for. Although they took care of that last part with weird propaganda about him."

"Were you ever arrested?" Sharon asked curiously.

Vivian shook her head, "I mean, I probably should have been. I punched out the mayor's son when he was hasslin' Steve and Bucky."

"Didn't you also blow up a Hydra factory when you were 18?" Natasha laughed.

"Yes, but that wasn't a crime, it was an honor and a privilege."

Kate threw her head back and laughed, while Maria leaned forward and clinked their wine glasses together. Pepper grinned before teasing, "You know, if you told that story to Tony, he'd probably respect you more."

Vivian shrugged, "Maybe, but honestly my goal with the conversation we had wasn't really to make him respect me. I've dealt with people all my life that don't respect me. I just want civility, both because it's nice and also because it makes my boyfriends stress out less. The people I think he should respect are Steve and Bucky. I honestly have very low standards when it comes to most people interacting with me to the point where it's something I'm being actively forced to work on."

"Okay so, it's obviously none of my business, but what was the deal with Steve and Clint anyway?" Sharon asked curiously.

"Do you really need _that_ talk again?" Natasha drawled.

Sharon rolled her eyes, "I know they had sex. I was their neighbor. I could absolutely hear them through the walls. Neither of them are quiet. Just were they dating or what?"

"I know that for Steve, it was a friends with benefits situation," Vivian said. "Steve wanted intimacy but didn't want to just go on random dates or meet with a stranger."

"Clint and I have an arrangement," Natasha added. "We're…together, but we can have hookups with whoever we want. Mind you, we can strongly encourage someone _not_ to hook up with someone, but I can't tell him who he can or cannot have sex with. And he can't tell me either. Steve was a lengthier conversation because our arrangement was under the idea that it was usually just a hookup. Steve was wanting something that was more long term than we usually had to deal with."

"So it's not awkward between all of you?" Pepper asked, looking genuinely curious.

Natasha shook her head, "No. For starters, despite the fact that I have just absolutely _impeccable_ strap game, there is still a difference between that and the real thing, so I respect Clint's desire to seek it out." Vivian snorted as Maria high fived Natasha. Natasha smirked and continued, "But more importantly, I'll have to admit that I also just approved of it on the basis that it felt a little bit like corrupting a national icon even though he wasn't being corrupted."

"And I'm guessing Clint told you every detail," Maria said, pouring more wine into her glass.

"There was also that."

Vivian shook her head, "Well, I had hoped he told you all the details, because Steve told Bucky and me all the details. And yes, we're both fine with it. I mean, it wasn't like Steve even knew we were alive at that point. Plus, while we don't have the exact same setup that Clint and Nat have, we aren't _opposed_ to hookups outside the three of us on very special occasions."

"You can just say Thor's your exception, because everyone saw him kiss you three at that party," Kate laughed.

Pepper frowned, "Speaking of Thor, has anyone seen him lately? He mentioned after the Ultron incident that he wanted to go speak to Jane and he seemed…worried."

"I honestly don't listen when he speaks," Maria confessed. "His biceps are _incredibly_ distracting."

Pepper blushed, "I recommend treating it like a presentation you're nervous about and looking just past his ear. It's what I do when I talk to him." She then paused and sighed, "Please no one tell that to Tony. He'll make fun of me up and until he becomes self-conscious and becomes mopey about it."

"Oh, I cannot make that promise," Maria sighed.

"Maria, please," Pepper begged.

"Fine," Maria sighed, but then smirked, "I won't tell Stark, but I will tell Thor next time he shows up."

Pepper looked torn for a moment before she groaned, "Fine, but you better make sure he knows I'm embarrassed about it and don't want Tony to know."

Vivian shook her head and turned toward Pepper, "I don't know how I, the person with two boyfriends, needs to point this out, but we are spending _way_ too much time talking about boys. Let's talk about something else. Sharon, how's being a super spy for the government going?"

Sharon choked on her wine slightly before she said, "Oh, my gosh, thank you for bringing that up. I'm actually leaving the CIA. Sort of. Pepper hired me to be the liaison between Stark industries and government agencies."

"It used to be an aspect of my job, but then it was starting to become the only thing I had time for in my day," Maria added.

Pepper smiled, "And of course, we knew Sharon would be perfect for the job."

"That and Natasha turned you down," Sharon joked.

Natasha rolled her eyes, "I was not even considered for the job. Strict bureaucracy bores me."

"Strict bureaucracy bores _everyone_ ," Maria laughed.

Sharon snorted, "You say that as if Pepper hasn't absolutely told you she's thrilled by deadlines."

Pepper fake glared, "You know that is _not_ what I said. I said that getting a massive project done within a tight deadline is empowering and more than a little bit satisfying."

"Nerd," Kate coughed into her hand.

"Oh, sweetheart, you do not get to pull that card," Maria scoffed. "You are the worst overachiever out of all of us."

" _That is a lie_ ," Kate gasped.

Maria tilted her head and began counting off, "So you're an Olympic level athlete--"

"They will not let me compete in the Olympics, I do not know how many times I have to tell people this--"

"You are at that level though so it still counts and the only reason they stop you from competing is because you'd absolutely break all their records. You also help run a charity that is mostly geared toward trans youth but also helps adults. You combined those two things with an _amazing_ archery charity event that raised a truly ridiculous amount of money, _and_ you turned Clint's building into free housing."

"Okay that last part is mostly because I'd rather die than be a landlord," Kate said. "Landlords don't deserve rights."

"Careful," Pepper cautioned.

"Do you charge literally anyone who lives in this building rent to live here?" Kate asked, side eyeing Pepper.

"Okay, no, I don't do that."

"Then you're not their landlord."

"I do get to be the one to ask people to be quiet and to not trash things."

"Okay, then sometimes you're a narc."

Everyone snickered, aside from Pepper who just shook her head, smiled, and rolled her eyes. For a moment they all just ate their food and enjoyed a moment of silence until Sharon added, "Hey, Pepper, I know my office is still being set up, but can I set up shop in one of the existing meeting rooms until it's done? I _really_ don't want to go back to my old office tomorrow."

"Oh, of course," Pepper said, pulling out her phone. "I'll check my computer once this lunch is over and I'll let you know which meeting room I book for you so that no one interrupts you."

"Best boss ever," Sharon sighed and Natasha raised her glass to that.

"You're only saying that because your last two jobs were for groups that routinely destabilized entire regions," Kate joked.

"Oh god, Maria, take your girlfriend's wine away before she gives us all her speech about the military industrial complex and how it is being used as a tool for colonialism," Sharon begged. "I mean, it's true, but it's also far too early for that conversation."

Kate opened her mouth, presumably to argue, but Maria did take her wine glass away. Sharon grinned, but that expression slid back into a pout when Maria teased, "Kate, my absolute favorite person in the world, you know rants like that are best suited for hard liquor, not wine."

"Fine," Kate sighed.

Vivian shook her head and smiled, "Well, I'm definitely looking forward to that. Pepper, do you need help cleaning up?"

Pepper waved her hand, "No, I'm just going to rinse the plates and put them in the dishwasher. I'll be fine. If you need to go, then go."

"Great," Vivian sighed with relief. Standing up, she nodded to each of them, "Thanks for inviting me to this. This was…chaotic but fun. And hopefully I didn't ruin my chances of getting invited back for another one."

"Oh, you're never getting out of one of these lunches ever again," Kate laughed.

"Is it too late to say I don't need any friends?" Vivian joked.

"Oh, long past too late," Natasha nodded solemnly.

Sharon nodded as well, "Natasha fought us on it at first too, but now she can't get rid of us."

"Apparently they've been spending the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder, so my initial escape attempt was useless, but I'll think of something soon," Natasha deadpanned.

Vivian shook her head as the rest of them at the table burst into laughter at that. The conversation started overlapping a bit and she headed into the elevator. She had fun, but spending that much time with that many people at once was still new. It was definitely going to take some time to get used to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I've had this moment planned for a while. Except for the letterkenny reference. That is because I've been binging it lately. I also can't say I planned on a Princess Bride reference, but I do love to reference that movie.


	16. Sixteen: 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: anxiety, negative thoughts related to anxiety/self-esteem issues, mentions of Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays by a writer that's a goy
> 
> Wooooo, it's the last chapter of 2015!
> 
> Let me know if I missed a warning/tag and I'll add it!
> 
> I put lengthy commentary about visibility, bigotry, and religion in the end notes.

Bucky splashed water on himself before taking deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. His hands shook and he reminded himself that Steve had given him the same damn speech over and over again for days about how if he was overwhelmed at any point, he did not have to be there. Bucky had sworn up and down that he didn't need to be excused from a goddamn _Christmas party_ and that he'd be _fine_. He'd _loved_ Christmas growing up, so why would this be any different? Neither Steve nor Vivian had said anything, but he'd known they hadn't _really_ believed him.

And in truth, he hadn't really believed it himself.

He'd seen the list of people invited by Tony to the tower grow with startling speed over the past few months and he'd known the tower would be packed. It seemed now that Tony was trying to be their friend that every whim and passing thought he had about something or someone that would make people happy had been invited. The entirety of the X-Men had been invited, although most had passed along their condolences due to a conflicting schedule with the X-Men's Christmas party. Logan had agreed to make an appearance for Vivian's sake though and that became the first pin in why Bucky couldn't just avoid the damn thing. His girlfriend's goddamn father was coming to it.

And then all three of his sisters along with a few of his great nephews and nieces had _also_ agreed to come. That turned his 'probably would look bad if I didn't come' into a deep sinking guilt of 'what's gonna happen if you skip your sister's last Christmas?'

And so Bucky was in the bathroom, trying desperately to focus his breathing while feeling a crushing weight of guilt for not wanting to be there for a holiday he used to love.

"Bucky? Can I come in?"

Bucky dried off his face with a towel before opening the door and letting Matt Murdock in. Closing it behind him, Bucky sighed and admitted, "Didn't expect you to come to this party, let alone be the one to come find me."

Matt grinned, "And miss a party that Stark accidentally invited me to _twice_?"

Bucky chuckled weakly, "Did he really?"

"Oh yeah. The invitation on both, in braille, specified that I should come and that I could bring however many people I wanted, but that I had to let Pepper know an exact number for 'catering purposes'."

"Oh yeah," Bucky sighed. "I think each floor has a different caterer. One entire floor has stuff specific to him being reminded for the fiftieth time that Wanda and Pietro are Jewish."

"Oh yeah, I stopped by that floor. Great latkes," Matt nodded. He then paused and smiled, "I didn't come in here to talk to you about food though, Barnes. I could hear your heart racing over the blaring Christmas music, so I know you're not doing well."

"I used to love Christmas," Bucky said quietly. Sitting down on the ground, he leaned against the wall and sighed. "My parents loved it. We didn't have a ton of money, but we always put a lot of effort into making something for each other or getting a small something or whatever. We'd wake up early and we'd eat breakfast together. We'd open presents together. We'd play games and just…"

"Sounds really nice."

"It was. We'd drag Steve and Viv over for it all. Sometimes Steve's ma could join us as well. And it wasn't like I could be open about what the three of us were, but just getting all those people that I cared about in one place to just _relax_ and _enjoy time together_ was…it was a fuckin' miracle is what it was." Bucky blew out a frustrated breath, clenching and unclenching his hands as he continued, "I loved all the decorations and the music and the food and the people and I would plan for _months_ on how to surprise the people I loved, how to make them happy. And now I can barely deal with my day to day life, let alone prepare a surprise, and everything out there just feels like _too much_."

Matt nodded, seeming to think for a moment before he asked, "You went to a huge family gathering before, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"How'd you handle that?"

Bucky winced and shrugged, "Stayed in a side room and everyone who wanted to see me basically came to me? And even then, I could only do that for a short while before that room got too crowded too. It's just…it's _Christmas_."

"You've gotta stop repeating the holiday as if it actually matters more than your mental health," Matt scolded.

"My _youngest_ sister is 89 years old and still managed to come here for me. How the fuck do I let Steve or Viv tell them that I can't be fucking bothered to spend time with them?"

"Oh, you having a panic attack in the bathroom is you just not fucking trying?" Matt scoffed. "C'mon, Bucky. You wouldn't let Viv or Steve say this shit about themselves. And if you don't stop doing it to yourself, I am going to call one of them. Or I'll text Clint."

"You two text? How does that work? Am I allowed to ask that?"

Matt chuckled, "Yes, both because I'm fine talking about it and also because it'll distract you. I dictate my texts to my phone and then have it read it back to me so I make sure it didn't completely fuck it up. Clint texts normally and when it comes back, my phone reads it out loud to me. We also sometimes talk on the phone since he only has hearing loss in the one ear, but he tends to fuck up and injure himself a lot, so texts mean he doesn't have to strain or give himself a headache."

Bucky nodded, "That makes sense. I think he also just likes texting more."

"Yeah, he sends the weirdest things over texts. He ever hit on you over text message?"

Bucky snorted and eyed Matt curiously, "Of course he has. I'm pretty sure when he's drunk he just texts every single man he knows to tell us the hottest thing about us. Still not as weird as Thor messaging me though."

" _Thor_ texts?"

Buck sighed and held up a hand, moving it back and forth before he explained, "Thor sometimes sends text messages, but not usually. He's actually more likely to send us snaps."

"That man uses _snapchat_?"

"Yup," Bucky nodded. "He likes to send us each individual videos with messages. If it's a message to all of us, he just posts it as a story and then texts us all to go check it out. Apparently Darcy got him interested in it, but I think she was hoping for a lot less clothing to be involved."

"I don't think I met Darcy out there," Matt said with a frown.

"Darcy and Jane haven't been coming around. At first we thought it was because they work in England, but no one knows for sure now."

"Being in England _is_ a good excuse though."

"Not when her boyfriend has a teleporting rainbow that can zap them all over the universe."

"Ah."

"Yeah," Bucky sighed. He then let out a breath as his phone beeped. Opening the message, he leaned against the wall and resisted sighing again as he saw it was from Vivian.

_Hey, just so you know, our floor is still private if you want to come back up. It'll just be you, me, Steve, your sisters, Wanda (Pietro is still eating his weight in food), my dad, and Thor said he might stop in._

"Looks like Vivian and Steve decided to do what you thought we should," Bucky sighed.

"Funny, I don't remember telling any of you what to do."

Bucky rolled his eyes, "You subtly suggesting something isn't as subtle as you think it is, Murdock."

"I'm _incredibly_ subtle."

Bucky snorted, "No, you really aren't." He then grimaced, "And I just realized I talked about myself forever and didn't ask you a damn thing. How are you?"

Matt laughed, "I'm fine, Bucky, I really am. Your case keeps me busy, but I think we'll have a deal early next year, especially since a whole law firm joined in on our fight."

"And the whole Daredevil gig?"

"Going well. Fisk's in prison, so that helps in some ways and hurts in others, but I've got help. Luke's still wary of me, but he's good to have as an ally. Still figuring out what Danny's whole deal is."

"And Jessica?" Bucky asked slyly.

"Jess is doing fine," Matt laughed. "God, I can't even see the details of your face and I know you look smug. I can hear it."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Jess and I are fine. No, it's still not serious. Yes, I'm fine with that."

"Sure you are," Bucky scoffed. "Good luck with that."

"I changed my mind. I like Barton more than you."

"I'll remember that for the next time Barton breaks your coffee pot," Bucky laughed. Matt made a face, but then it faded as Bucky pulled him into a hug.

"It's gonna be okay," Matt reassured him. "Just one day of craziness and then you can go back to being a homebody for the next 364 days."

"Thanks for checking on me, Matt."

"Anytime."

The two left the bathroom and Bucky only then realized how odd their location of choice had been for that conversation when people eyed them both curiously and then wickedly before running off whispering. At least a few people giggled. Shaking his head, he turned to make a joke to Matt, but the sneaky son of a bitch had already made his way back over to where the alcohol was being kept.

Very quickly, the curious stares of the room sent him fleeing into the elevator. There were a few people in there, but he managed to keep to himself until he got off on his own floor with a sigh. The scene in front of him was pretty homey. His sisters were playing some card game (definitely wasn't going to interrupt that). Wanda was talking quietly to Thor. Vivian and Steve were talking to Trip and Skye. Heading over to Vivian and Steve, Bucky smiled weakly as Trip joked, "Well, look who finally decided to show up."

Steve and Vivian both gave him a quick kiss in greeting and he shrugged before then pausing and sighing, "Yeah. Thought I could stay downstairs longer than I could. And I…I think I accidentally started a rumor about myself."

"Oh?" Skye asked, sitting up and looking intrigued.

Bucky nodded, "I think people think I fucked Matt Murdock in the bathroom."

Vivian burst into laughter and Steve choked on his drink. Skye was laughing so hard that Bucky feared she'd slip out of her chair, and Trip was the one to breathe long enough to ask, "How the fuck did that happen?"

"Got overwhelmed. Went into the bathroom. Matt came to check on me. We talked in the bathroom for a while. We came out of the bathroom together. People got very giggly and whispered a lot to each other as we went our separate ways."

"Oh yeah, that'll do it," Skye sighed, wiping tears off her face. "Oh God, I know this is super not fair of me to ask, but uh, could I maybe…just…"

"I'm honestly not sure if you're about to ask for permission to be the one to tell the truth or to make the rumor worse just so you can think about Matt and Bucky together," Vivian teased.

Skye blushed red and Trip shook his head when she looked to him for help, "Nah, babe, I don't know where the hell you were going with that, but you're on your own."

"You know what? Forget I said anything," Skye said, still bright red and then just downing her drink. Trip snorted and rubbed her back before leaning close and whispering something in her ear that made her relax.

Steve shook his head and glanced at Bucky, "You're doing okay though, right?"

Bucky smiled softly, "Yeah, Steve, I'm okay. Just still not ready for Stark's wild parties."

"I do not think any of us are," Wanda added, coming over and sitting down next to Vivian. She then glanced at them and asked, "Did Stark get any of you an elaborate gift?"

Trip and Skye both nodded before Trip added, "I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it's been damn unexpected. He's been really involved with getting my arm built." Trip lifted up his arm and wiggled his fingers. "And he keeps offering upgrades. Offered me my own kind of spy gear like my grandpa had too."

"And he built me a state of the art laptop," Skye gushed. When Trip raised an eyebrow at her, Skye scoffed, "What? The man's a fucking legend and he _made my laptop_. It's _insane_. The specs on it made me cry so hard that Coulson nearly called my therapist until he heard me babbling about specs."

"Coulson's here?" Steve asked curiously.

Trip nodded, "Him and May are drinking wine with Pepper."

"Makes sense," Vivian sighed. She then glanced over at Steve who rolled his eyes, "Fine, Stark gave the three of us presents as well."

"He did?" Bucky asked, brow furrowed.

Vivian nodded, "Yeah. You know that law firm that teamed up with Matt and Foggy?" Bucky nodded, but then his eyes widened as Vivian sighed, "Tony hired them. They work for him. He's funding our defense now and apparently is willing to put me on the books as an employee for my green card application."

"Wait, why do you need a green card? You're an American," Skye scoffed.

"Yeah, apparently not legally," Vivian sighed. "So my mom wasn't exactly a citizen of America when she brought me over and _I_ wasn't either. And so in order to not punish me for an absurd amount of time staying here illegally, I have to go through the immigration process again or else I get deported to wherever they find out I was born, because no one is really sure right now."

"I thought you were born in Russia," Trip said.

Vivian shrugged, "Maybe, but Russia doesn't exactly want to claim me, and finding records from 1918, especially from inside an organization like Hydra, basically anywhere in Europe is an uphill battle."

Bucky squeezed Vivian's hand before he focused on Wanda, "Stark get you something?"

Wanda rolled her eyes and sighed, muttering to herself quietly in Sokovian before she said, "He, uh, means well. He has sponsored my brother and me to stay here if we should choose to do so. He also gave us a menorah. I do not believe he knows Hanukkah was two weeks ago. He also chose one that is…" Everyone waited and finally she sighed, "It is hideous and far too expensive."

"Wait, what is it made from?" Trip asked.

"Solid silver inlaid with gold and rubies. It is heavy. He got us quite a few items for Hanukkah. I have informed Ms. Potts that we very much appreciate this gift that he has given us, but would love to keep it here so we may celebrate when we arrive. Ms. Potts has understood my meaning."

Steve snorted and shook his head, "I'll make sure Tony reigns it in, just in case he discovers that other Jewish holiday exists."

Wanda winced, "Please do not let him try to interfere with Rosh Hashanah. I am…happy that he wishes to help us celebrate, but would rather he just left us to it. Many of our celebrations would not be things he would enjoy."

"He might," Skye shrugged.

"Do you believe Tony Stark would be interested in fasting and atonement? Do you think he wishes to see the synagogue we've been going to?" Wanda asked, tilting her head.

"Oh. Yeah, no. Sorry."

Wanda smiled, "It is fine. It is not for everyone. Even my brother and I have different ideas about which holiday is the most important or the best way to celebrate them." She then paused for a moment, "Actually, that sort of disagreement goes to most things. For example, I found the parties overwhelming and loud, so I came up here. Pietro found the parties loud and that is why he enjoys them. Also, he likes to show off his powers. He has begun to like the attention now that the results of it is that people cheer for him."

Skye sighed, "Would _love_ to get to that point. Still getting used to everything I've found out so far about my whole family." She then pointed at Vivian, "Speaking of which, got any advice for finding out your mom's murderous and kind of crazy?"

Vivian paused and the silence stretched for several minutes before she shook her head, "Nope, not unless you want to kill her. That is what I did. I'm not recommending it as an option, but it is technically an option."

"Fair point," Skye laughed. She then pointed, "Oh, right. I found out my birth name actually. It's Daisy. Still kind of figuring out if I want to actually use it now that I know it. Been testing it out amongst friends, but still having Skye as like, my agent…code… name…thing."

Bucky made a mental note to call her _Daisy_ from them on as Steve smiled, "Both are great names, and just let us know what you decide and we'll follow your lead."

"Speaking of mutant parents, where'd your dad go anyway?" Daisy said, leaning forward and batting her eyelashes.

Vivian scrunched up her nose and sighed, "The look on your face makes me not want to tell you, but he's on a different floor smoking a cigar right now. I told him not to smoke here. He should be back soon."

Bucky was about to ask Vivian about that when Becca tossed a wadded up napkin at his head and shouted, "Bucky, you brat, get over here and make Ida stop cheating."

The group snorted and Bucky nodded to them as he headed over to his sister just in time to catch Ida scoff, "I was not cheating. I would never cheat. You're the one who wasn't paying attention!"

"You're both losing anyway," Elizabeth shrugged.

"Shut up, Lizzie," both Becca and Ida scoffed.

"Hey, what the hell is going on over here?" Bucky sighed, sitting and eyeing each of his sisters cautiously.

"Becca was too busy ogling Thor to keep track of what cards were being played," Ida said. "So she says I didn't give her cards she asked for when I didn't have them."

"Horse shit, Ida Marie," Becca snapped. "I asked you if you had any threes and then next turn you were asking me if I had any threes!"

"There was a turn in between those and I drew a three," Ida sighed.

"It was absolutely not a turn in between it, you little cheat. You were holdin' out on threes--"

"Are you three seriously about to get into scraps because of a game of _Go Fish_?" Bucky scoffed.

"I just wanna say that I've been paying attention _and_ I'm winning," Lizzie added quietly.

Both Becca and Ida make fake gagging noises and Bucky sighed, "Okay, Becca, stop ogling my friend and Ida, stop cheating."

"I didn't cheat," Ida stressed.

"No, you didn't cheat the way Becca thinks you did. You took more cards then you were supposed to. You always used to pull that shit."

Lizzie gaped, "Cheater!"

"I don't know why you're calling her out, far as I can tell, she learned that trick from you," Bucky teased.

Lizzie blushed and then retorted, "Well, you probably started it."

"Nope, only bad habit that got picked up from me is Becca's. I also get distracted by gorgeous blondes when I play cards." The girls cackled and Bucky glanced over at Vivian and Steve who were leaning in close to keep talking to Trip, Wanda, and Daisy. This lasted until another balled up napkin hit the side of his head.

Glancing over at Lizzie, who was the culprit this time, he stared blankly at her as she scoffed, "You are a pain and a half, James Buchanan."

"Oh, leave him alone," Becca scolded. "They've had a hard year."

"In case any of you were wondering, this is why Becca's my favorite," Bucky joked, causing Becca to beam.

"Hey, I did not say _anything_ ," Ida exclaimed.

"Second favorite," Bucky nodded to her. Ida grinned. Lizzie grumbled. Bucky's own grin slid off his face though as he saw Thor staring mournfully down at his phone. He looked near tears and just his entire body was tense. Glancing between his sisters, he said, "I promise to come back and keep Ida from cheating again if I can just go talk to Thor for a bit."

Becca nodded, "You better. It's a damn crime for a man that handsome to be that sad. I'd go talk to him myself, but I don't know him that well."

"And you'd drool on him and he'd have to ask you to leave," Lizzie sighed.

Bucky left as the three started bickering again and went over to Thor's side. He cleared his throat to get Thor's attention, feeling bad as the man flinched, and then said, "Hey, can I join you?"

"Aye," Thor said softly. "Of course, my friend. You are always welcome."

Bucky nodded and sat down. For a moment they just sat in silence before he asked, "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, but are you okay?"

"Young Wanda asked me a similar query, as have Steven and Vivian. And that is just this evening. Many other comrades have asked something in the same vein."

"From the lack of definitive gossip, I'm assuming you didn't tell them."

"I--" Thor frowned and sat back. "I do not enjoy worrying those around me, especially for private matters such as these." He then sighed, "Although I must confess that the worry that they would discuss the matters elsewhere did weigh upon my mind."

"If you just tell people you want it to be private, most people are pretty damn good about keeping it that way," Bucky added. "I can't promise that if you'll talk to me about what's going on that I won't tell Steve or Vivian, but I can promise that none of us will tell other people if you don't want us to."

"That is a fair and just warning, Barnes," Thor said. He then nodded toward the Barnes sisters and smiled, "Your sisters are wonderous people."

Bucky snorted, "Yeah, just promise you won't tell them that. They will never shut up about it if they find out they got the stamp of approval from the god of thunder. They'll just be absolutely insufferable back home. It'd be bad for the neighbors."

"I will keep that in mind," Thor chuckled. He then sighed and said, "Are you certain you wish to know what ails me?"

Bucky nodded, but then they both got momentarily distracted as Logan came back into the room. He had a bottle of whiskey in one hand and he sat down at the table. Bucky was surprised when Thor said, "Was it difficult for Vivian to discover she had family that had been hidden from her?"

Bucky nodded, "It was hard for all of us. Viv went through so many awful things because of her…because of _them_ , and…"

"He could have saved her."

"He didn't know she existed either," Bucky stressed. "He knew he hooked up with someone that was crazy, but he didn't know he had a kid until the mutants came and got her. It's funny though. Steve and I never ran into Logan during the war due to Logan mostly fighting in the Pacific, but there were some close calls, times we were all in the same country at the same time, but didn't see each other."

"Does he approve of you dating his daughter?"

Bucky snorted, "No clue. He butts heads with Steve though. Not anywhere near as often as Viv butts heads with Tony, but sometimes they can get heated. I don't really talk back to him, so I think he likes me a little bit more." At that moment, Logan glanced toward them with a peculiar look on his face so Bucky shrugged, "Or I could be completely off base on that one."

"Do you believe he can hear us?" Thor whispered into his ear.

"Oh, he definitely can," Bucky sighed as Logan tilted the bottle of booze toward them before returning back to the conversation. "You were about to tell me what's going on with you though and don't worry, even though Logan can hear us, but he usually doesn't like to interfere with other people's business. Still, it's something to keep in mind."

Thor nodded and folded his arms across his chest. Bucky let him sit in thought for a while, keeping an eye on the room until Thor finally said, "You are dating both Steve and Vivian, yes?"

"That is true," Bucky said, unsure of where this was going.

"I have been informed that such an arrangement is…unusual amongst Midgardians."

"That's true," Bucky confessed. "Usually relationships on this planet are just two people. It doesn't have to be, and at this point more people are realizing that it's normal even if it's not something they want for themselves. And other people who date more than one person are going to have different arrangements than we do."

"How was this achieved?"

Bucky paused and glanced at Thor in confusion, "Are you asking how polyamorous relationships came about on Earth or are you askin' how I started dating two people, because I only kind of know the answer to one of those questions. The other one I've got no clue."

"Your specific relationship," Thor said. "I understand that Midgardians have rather…old fashioned views on relationships, particularly privacy, so if you do not wish to tell me, I will accept this and ask no more of you."

"No, it's fine," Bucky chuckled. "Just usually people ask questions like this to Steve or Viv. Truth is that it just kind of _happened_. Viv approached Steve and me and we were drinking and we'd wanted it for a bit and so we just…did it. Didn't much think it through until we'd already done enough to break every damn decency law in the state. And then pretty soon after that, we knew we were in love, so it just…it made sense. We fit together."

"No one was ever _hurt_ by the request?"

Bucky turned his entire body toward Thor at that question, frowning as he asked, "Thor, what are you really asking here?"

"Hey, Thor, did you bring any of that Asgardian liquor with you?" Trip called over, grinning. "I wanna see these superhumans get tipsy."

Bucky sighed as Thor shook his head and cleared his throat before standing up and announcing, "Apologies, Agent Triplett, I did not on this occasion. Do you wish for me to retrieve it?"

Trip shook his head, "Nah, man, you're good. And you know you can call me Trip, right?"

Thor smiled weakly, "My sincerest gratitude to you, Trip. I shall do my best to remember it for our next social engagement."

"You all right, Bud?" Logan asked, leaning back in his chair and eyeing Thor. Bucky was glad that stare was directed at Thor instead of him since even though he knew the man didn't have psychic abilities, it still _felt_ like a stare that could just see into someone.

"Of course, Logan. Many thanks for your concern. However, I believe I have yet to discuss certain matters with our hostess and I must depart," Thor said, heading toward the elevator. "I bid you all a farewell and wish you all joy during this belated Winter Solstice celebration."

As soon as the doors to the elevator shut, Bucky groaned as Becca scoffed, "Bucky, I swear to God, if you scared off that hot deity, I will hit you with my cane."

"I'll help her," Ida added.

"Hear, hear," Lizzie chimed in.

"Calm down before you break a hip," Bucky retorted before he could stop himself. His eyes widened after that and he almost apologized as the three women went quiet, but then he groaned as they laughed uproariously.

Shaking his head, he went back to sit next to Viv and Steve, smiling as Steve whispered into his ear, "We'll check on Thor later, I promise."

Bucky nodded and then turned toward Logan as Daisy asked, "So, is it true you guys don't, y'know, help inhumans."

Logan took a long sip of whiskey before he replied, "Their leader doesn’t really care for us. Thinks even Magneto's too soft on outsiders on account of him not wanting to keep going with a 'convert or kill' plan."

"He tried it once though, right?" Wanda asked quietly.

Logan nodded, "Stupid fuckin' plan. Tried to turn a bunch of goddamn politicians, as if those fucking bastards wouldn't just deny the shit and keep doing stuff to appease their base of bigots. Would have killed most of 'em too and just landed all mutants on a watchlist." Logan finished his drink and then nodded to both Wanda and Daisy, "Viv already knows this, but I'm gonna let you two in on a secret: your powers aren't anyone's fucking business. Got it? So if some human comes up to you asking you what's your deal, you just keep walking. You never know when one of those shitheads' has a whole group of 'em with him."

"So your advice is to hide?" Trip scoffed.

"I'm gonna let that slide since everything about you that people would be awful about is shit you can't hide, but you already know that there are people who aren't worth the goddamn time to tell to fuck off. It's not like you can just look at them and know if they're that either, so my advice is to take the time to figure out if they're worth goddamn knowing anything about you before you open your mouth about having abilities."

Logan's phone went off and he pulled it out, glancing at it. He sighed and Vivian asked, "They sending the jet to pick you up or is Nightcrawler on his way?"

"Nightcrawler, unfortunately," Logan sighed. He then nodded to Wanda, "Hey kid, you wanna help run coms for a mission?"

Wanda's eyes lit up and she stood up, "Yes!" Blushing, she then paused, "We should go get my brother. He will not want to miss it."

"You got 10 minutes to get him and get to the roof or we're leaving you here," Logan shrugged.

Wanda rushed off, immediately closing the elevator behind her, and Bucky smiled as Logan rolled his eyes and sighed, "And she just took the damn elevator."

A few minutes later though, the elevator doors opened again and Logan got in, waving at everyone as they left. As the doors closed, Vivian scooted closer and curled up against his side. Gently pulling her closer, Bucky ran his fingers through her hair and just sat with her as the conversations around them picked back up. Steve's hand went to the back of his neck and he shivered as the touch turned into a gentle massage. Goosebumps spread over his arm and down his back and he smiled, ignoring the shared grin between Trip and Daisy.

"Next Christmas, I'm keeping you both all to myself," Steve murmured.

Bucky smiled and gave a quick kiss to Steve before immediately turning and kissing Vivian as she pinched his side. Next year. They had plans for next year. They had _nice_ plans for next year. A chuckle escaped him and then it built into hysterical laughter that caused everyone to eye him curiously.

Who'd have thought that it would feel this good to have _plans_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be absolutely clear: Logan's view basically being 'wait until someone shows they're probably not bigots instead of assuming they aren't before you're open about what you are' is just one view from him about things that aren't readily visible. In this instance, it's mutant powers specifically but can be abstracted into things like sexuality and non-visible disabilities. Not everyone takes the 'wait and see' approach and honestly everyone's valid to make whatever choice makes them feel the safest. The fact that I'm brown isn't something I can hide, so that ship done sailed, but the fact that I'm disabled and queer are things I don't volunteer unless I feel safe with that person or it gets to the point where it's absolutely necessary for them to know (this basically only applies to my disabilities). That is a privilege, mind you, but it does keep me safe. Trip wanting to be open all the time about everything is influenced by the fact that for the most part, he doesn't really have a choice in the matter. He's a black man who lost an arm. He doesn't get the option to just wait until he's comfortable with someone unless he wants all of his conversations to be over the phone or via text up until a certain point. Their life experiences are very different. And even amongst those who don't have things that are visible, being open about everything from the start is something plenty of people do. That is their right. There is no wrong answer here about how to deal with being part of a marginalized group.
> 
> That also leads me to my mention that I am not Jewish and I am not the final say, or even the first say, of what the Jewish experience is anywhere. I did a good amount of reading before I did this. For a while I thought about going with the default of the 'non-practicing Jew' stereotype that seems to show up in a lot of fanfiction written by fellow non-Jews but ultimately realized that I don't think that's helpful either. Wanda and Pietro do not agree with each other on how to be Jewish or to celebrate Jewish holidays and they are not examples of 'how to be Jewish'. Also, my pointing out the menorah was gaudy and expensive is not a dig at people who like menorahs like that. It just was a little inappropriate for Tony to purchase for them without consulting them and Wanda specifically does not like it or want it. Tony meant well though, but just didn't think it through or communicate enough. It's not the first time he's done it.


	17. Seventeen: 2016

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: discussions of grief/anger/loss (specifically from Tony Stark)
> 
> Also, I've got an important announcement at the end of this chapter.

The words on the page began to blur and Bucky rubbed at his eyes. He'd been reading up on cars and engines for what felt like forever and his head was starting to hurt. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he let out a breath and realized he had been reading for hours. The light was dimmer and he pulled out his phone to check again what time Steve had said they'd be back. He still had at least six hours until the initial estimate he'd been given, and the most recent missions meant he was pretty sure they'd go over. Last mission had taken them five days longer than expected since they got trapped outside of Transylvania of all goddamn places.

Tossing the book down, Bucky grumbled and picked up another one of the twelve books he had spread out in front of him to look up part of the process he didn't understand. It wasn't technically necessary for him to treat every single detail and step of rebuilding an engine as things he needed to know the whole history of, but at the very least it made it so that he had a more solid knowledge of it _and_ more importantly it took up a lot of time.

"Do you and Peshkova just hate the internet or do you do this just to vex me?"

Glancing up as Stark approached, Bucky frowned, "Hello, Tony."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Yeah, hi, what's with the books?"

"Teaching myself to fix cars. I used to be good at it. Using books makes the information more tactile and easier to remember."

"And you're not good at it anymore because of the memory loss?" Tony asked and then winced as if he hated himself for asking it.

"It turns out cars have changed a bit since 1942."

"Right. That. Sorry. That was a stupid thing I said. I just…I don't know why I said it."

"It's fine," Bucky shrugged.

"God, Vivian was right, wasn't she?" Tony groaned, sitting down. "You really will just let me talk to you or about you just however I want to, won't you?"

Bucky stared blankly at him, "Am I supposed to stop you?"

"Yes!" Tony exclaimed, holding out his arms. "You're supposed to be feisty and talk back and want me to be nicer! We're supposed to bicker!"

"I think Vivian's got that part handled pretty well on her own," Bucky said, his lip twitching into a slight smile.

Tony narrowed his eyes, "Oh great. First I sort of reconcile with her and now I want other people to be like her. This is just great. I bet I can't even make you not tell her I said any of this, can I?" Bucky shook his head and Tony sneered, "Figures. You're both so goddamn certain that honesty is the best policy."

"Because it is."

" _Because it is_ ," Tony said, his tone a sing song mockery of Bucky's. He then sighed and asked, in his normal voice, "Where are your literal partners in crime anyway?"

"I don't know. Hopefully not trapped outside Transylvania again."

"Transylvania?"

"They got cornered by Dracula's castle last time. It took them an extra five days to get home."

"Actual Dracula's castle or like, 'this is Transylvania and a bunch of fucking tourists are gonna come here for Dracula anyway so we might as well make money off of it' castle?"

Bucky shrugged and closed the book he'd been reading before he confessed, "Could be either. We heard a lot of rumors about an actual Dracula fighting off Nazis back in the war, but never saw him. Hydra believed he was real though, were fuckin' terrified of him. So whoever it was did a great job of making people believe he was the real thing."

"Wait, Dracula fought in World War II?"

"Technically," Bucky sighed and leaned back, cracking his neck slightly before he explained. "He didn't really give a shit about the rest of Europe, just Transylvania, and by extension, Romania. Although rumor has it that he sent a bunch of his fellow vamps to save certain groups whenever he could. The guy was definitely a vampire, but whether he was living up to the legend of Dracula to push his own personal agenda or actually Dracula is a whole other thing that I'm not qualified to answer."

"You think Vampires are real?" Tony asked. He then laughed.

"They _are_ real," Bucky stressed. "Both SHIELD and Hydra tried to recruit them at one point, but they're shockingly not really interested in joining. It seems like they join their undead family and then that’s it forever. So you can't really get them to show up and defend any specific country or additional organization. That's not something they're interested in. And even if you just put things in their domain, it doesn't end well. It's like putting an alligator in your front yard as a home security measure. Eventually the damn thing is just gonna eat you."

"Since when are you this talkative?"

"Since you started asking questions about things that don't make you want to kill me and don't make me feel like letting you. Neither of us exactly have a stake in Dracula's existence."

Tony burst into sputtering laughter at that and Bucky eyed him curiously, rolling his eyes as Tony gasped, "That was a pun. You made a pun. Oh my god. You're the one who makes puns!"

"I made _a_ pun. Steve and Viv make them all the time."

" _What_?"

Bucky nodded and smiled softly, "Bunch of fucking dorks. Although they weren't as bad about it until they met Clint."

"Of course Clint is into puns. He's practically a cartoon character."

"Says real life Batman," Bucky muttered.

"How do you know about Batman?" Tony asked incredulously.

"The Detective Comics were something I'd read sometimes. Action Comics too, so I also know about Superman. Had a few coworkers that left 'em around," Bucky shrugged. "Batman showed up in like 1939 or 1940? Hard to keep track since a lot of 'em I read out of order. Recently found a website with a bunch of them. Superman too. All those characters. I've liked some of them." Tony's entire expression began to light up, so before he could say anything, Bucky quickly added, "I tried watching one of the movies, but couldn't get through it. Too many explosions."

"Right," Tony nodded. "That would make sense." For a moment they just sat there and then Tony sighed, "So what you're saying is you're just some gearhead nerd who only fights when he has to or is forced to. God, if Hydra hadn't been involved, you probably had some insanely boring plan for your life."

Bucky smiled, "I worked at a garage and I was getting really good at fixing up cars. I figured after the war, I'd do my best to keep going, work my way up. Maybe one day own my own shop and then I could take care of Viv and Steve and whatever kids Viv and I had. Maybe get a pet or two. I like cats. Steve and Viv both just love animals in general."

"Did not expect it to be that Norman Rockwell or for Vivian to be big into animal welfare. Didn't expect her to give a shit about anyone's welfare if I'm going to be honest about it."

Bucky smiled softly, "She doesn't show it to many people, but the people who do get to see it, they get it a lot, and I'm so fucking lucky to be one of those people."

Tony nodded and seemed lost in thought. For a moment Bucky thought the conversation was over until Tony's voice cracked as he said, "You killed my parents." Bucky kept quiet, but nodded and just let Tony continue, "You killed them and I know it wasn't really your fault. It wasn't your choice and you were used. It's the same as if you were just some assault rifle. But you still did it, and I…"

Tony shoved up off the ground and paced, his breathing getting heavier as he said, "My father was a shitty person. He was mean and a drunk and I was _never_ good enough for him. And then he died in what I thought was some _stupid_ accident that took my mom with him. And my mom was _great_. She _loved_ me. And so I was just walking around, _furious_ with him for being a bad person, for being a drunk, for being a shitty goddamn driver that got my one good parent killed.

"And then Natasha released all those fucking files, and the feelings I'd had, the feelings I'd gotten used to just _having_ are suddenly all sorts of fucked up because _my father didn't do anything wrong that night_. He didn't kill my mother. _You_ did. _Hydra_ did. God, _Obadiah_ did. And I'd _trusted_ Obadiah, and I'd at least trusted SHIELD to not be harboring their killers. And suddenly it's all back and I'm back to being that angry fucking twenty-one year old idiot all over again. Only this time, the killer is _right there_.

"You're _right there_ , and I can't do anything about it, because _you're not at fault either_. _You're a victim_ , so even though you choked the life out of my mother, I can't do _anything_ about it, because taking it out on you is also _wrong_. Obadiah's dead. I killed him before I even knew what he'd done to me, and for whatever fucking reason, while he was doing his whole song and dance, torturing me to get my tech, he _never once_ owned up to killing my parents. He just said I should have died that night. Not that he'd _paid_ for it to happen. So all that’s left is Hydra and none of the fuckers that are left had _any_ direct involvement in killing my parents. So all I can do is keep finding surrogates and it just _keeps being the worst_."

"I know this doesn't mean much, Tony, but I am sorry," Bucky whispered.

Tony pulled at his own hair, and for a moment Bucky thought he would grab a book and throw it, but then he just rubbed his hands over his face before he said, his voice muffled, "I know you are." Tony then dropped his hands and sat down heavily on the ground. His eyes were red. "I know you both are. You and Viv are both sorry. And Hell, with Vivian, I can't honestly say to myself I would have done differently in her shoes. And it's not like you had a choice. They fried your brain. And as Vivian proved, if you'd somehow figured out a way to say no, they would have sent someone else."

"Thank you, Tony. You're a good man."

Tony sighed, "God, don't thank me. Being a good man fucking sucks. I don't know how Rogers does it all the time."

"You do it too, you know. You're an asshole about it, but you're still a good man," Bucky shrugged. When Tony sent him an incredulous stare, Bucky shrugged, "I am usually _right there_ when you and Viv pick fights with each other."

"Um, thanks, I think." Tony then paused, "So are you saying Steve and Vivian aren't assholes about being good people?"

"Hell no, they're both absolutely ridiculous assholes," Bucky scoffed. "My boyfriend threw himself onto what he thought was a live grenade when he was 100 pounds soaking wet and had a list of medical ailments that was nearly as tall as he was. My girlfriend decided that the best place to hide from Hydra and to keep everyone safe from her being stalked by Hydra was the frontlines of World War II." Bucky then paused, "Oh yeah, also the times both of them have jumped out of planes without parachutes. Honestly, every single person in the Avengers is a good person who's a ridiculous asshole about it."

"Are you saying you're not a ridiculous asshole?"

"No, I definitely am," Bucky scoffed. "In fact, I think the only people currently in this building who _aren't_ ridiculous assholes are Pepper, Maria, and Sharon. And even then, Sharon's on thin fucking ice."

Tony snorted and then burst into hysterical laughter. Bucky eyed him oddly only to roll his eyes as Tony said, "I didn't know you _knew_ that saying. Also, why Sharon?" Bucky wished he hadn't named anyone specifically when Tony cackled, "Oh, is this because she flirted with Steve? Thought that didn't bother you. After all, you're friends with Clint and Clint fucked him."

"The saying 'you're on thin ice' is not new, Tony. Also, Sharon's his ex's niece. It's just weird. He was almost her uncle," Bucky said, scrunching up his nose. "Also, Clint didn't lie about who he was when him and Steve fucked. Besides, none of that is why she's on thin ice."

"Oh really? Then why is she?"

"She's dating Sam, and Sam's patently ridiculous."

"Pepper's dating me and you think I'm ridiculous."

"You're right, she's also on thin ice."

"What about Maria?"

"Maria's dating Kate. Kate's legally allowed to do whatever she wants and Maria gets that privilege as well as long as they're dating."

"I bet Kate told you that." Bucky nodded and Tony rolled his eyes. He then wiped his eyes and sighed, "Well, as…enlightening as this conversation is, I'm going to go talk to my girlfriend and tell her you think she's ridiculous."

"Only for dating you. Otherwise she's a wonderful, intelligent woman who is the only reason your business hasn't fallen apart."

"God, you and Vivian just both had to ruin it at the last moment," Tony mumbled before getting onto the elevator. Glancing over, Bucky could have sworn he saw Tony smile and shake his head before the doors closed.

"Hey, Jarvis, do you think that went well? I don't want to make things worse for Tony," Bucky said, glancing at the ceiling.

"While inconclusive at this point, I do believe he enjoyed your conversation."

"Thanks," Bucky said, standing up and stretching.

"Would you like me to notify Steve and Vivian that it went well?"

"Let me guess, they've been asking?"

"Indeed."

"Yeah, let 'em know before they drive themselves crazy. Also, how's their mission going?"

"Extremely well. They should be back home earlier than expected."

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it," Bucky snorted. Taking deep breaths, Bucky then reminded himself that Steve and Vivian had backup. Sam, Clint, Natasha, and Sharon had all gone out on the mission. Tony had stayed behind for one reason or another. Frowning, Bucky glanced up at the ceiling and asked, "Did Thor go with the group? I can't remember seeing him when they were leaving, but it wouldn't be the first time he met up with the group on location."

"Thor was not with the rest of the group when they departed, but as you suspected did rendezvous with them on site."

Bucky took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. If Thor was there then he could be even more certain that they'd come home safely. Thor was practically a _god_ , and he was protective of the team. He wouldn't let them get hurt. And that meant the only thing left for him to do was relax.

Frowning at the books, Bucky reached over and grabbed the laptop from the table and pulled it over. Initially when he'd woken up, the internet had seemed overwhelming, and now he didn't know how they got by without it. It was just so damn _convenient_. Anything he wanted to know, he could just look it up on the laptop or on his phone or even just asking it out loud to Jarvis.

And that included people reporting on Avengers sightings.

Most of the time, the public's fascination with Steve was mildly annoying. After all, it meant Steve had to look over his shoulder any time he wanted to so much as jog, but that fascination came in handy when he was stuck at home while Steve threw himself into danger. Vivian, unfortunately, managed to avoid the cameras of fans. He wasn't entirely sure how much of it was intentional. Some of it was definitely habit.

The pictures he could find showed Steve looking tired and a little dirty, but ultimately fine. Apparently at one point he'd protected some kids from some falling debris. Pictures of him holding up the huge piece of concrete was circulating with a lot of people describing it as 'dreamy' and various other things. He still wasn't entirely certain why dehydration was common when people looked at him, but a lot of them were tagging pictures as 'thirsty'. He found another picture though and he realized it was Viv. She was wearing one of the mesh masks. Blood was dripping down the side of her face and was matted in her hair. She was cradling her left arm against her body.

Getting up, Bucky closed the laptop and shoved his shoes on. His breathing was heavy and he grabbed one of the mesh masks by the door. Within seconds he was out of the building and just _walking_. He didn't know where he was going, but he needed some fresh air. He'd been invited to go on the mission, but his nightmares had been so _vivid_ the night before. He'd woken up sweating and nauseous, snuck away to spend the next few hours vomiting up everything in his system. By the time the team had been ready to leave, Bucky had been too exhausted to go on the mission with them.

Ducking into the park, Bucky crouched down and heaved in deep breaths. The mesh made it a little bit harder to get a relaxing breath, but it was better than being indoors. And that mask meant he didn't need to stick to the shadows. After a few minutes, his breathing evened out so he started walking again. He walked for about thirty minutes, still unable to clear his mind until he spotted a box. Crouching down, Bucky peered into the box and smiled as he saw a cat curled up in the box. The cat's hair was a little dirty, but seemed to be white underneath all the grime.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" Bucky murmured, reaching out and gently petting the cat. The cat didn't seem bothered by humans. It meowed, stretched and then got up, nuzzling Bucky's hand before laying back down. Chuckling as the cat then meowed a little louder, Bucky smiled, "Yeah, I hear you. Let's get you somewhere warmer than this."

Bucky expected the cat to jump out of the box as he picked it up, but it didn't. It just sat there and stared at him as he carried it out of the park and back into the tower. Once he was inside the apartment, he set the box down and then went into the kitchen. He cooked up some bland rice and some ground chicken before putting it in a dish and then setting it on the ground. The cat meowed loudly, darting around his legs until he placed a dish full of food on the ground.

"Sergeant Barnes, I have taken the initiative to contact Dr. Meredith Whitcher. He is waiting for you if you'd like to bring your guest down for a checkup."

"Who?" Bucky asked, frowning.

"Numerous employees both work and reside in this tower. In order to help the employees, in-house services were established. A veterinarian is one of them."

"He's not gonna hurt her, is he?"

"No, he will not. Records indicate that Dr. Whitcher is highly respected. Many staff initially begin seeing him out of convenience, but then switch to exclusively seeing him."

Bucky nodded and waited until the cat finished eating. Once she stretched and headed back his way, he carefully scooped her up in his arms, smiling as she purred. Her purr was loud and he headed into the elevator. The trip was quick and the doors opened to a sterile environment. He scrunched up his nose, but then nodded as a woman in brightly colored scrubs smiled at him, "Hello, Sergeant Barnes. Dr. Whitcher is waiting for you and your friend in examination room three."

Bucky nodded and headed down the hall, still holding the cat close to him. She was nearly falling asleep in his arms and he had to gently shift her as he knocked on the door. The door opened and he found himself face to face with a bearded man. His brown hair was plaited and had a thick streak of silver through it. He looked tired. Kind and tired. He seemed like one of those fancy businessmen Bucky had known in his youth with the exception of rainbow kitten socks he seemed to be wearing.

"Ah, I see you've found a new friend," Dr. Whitcher chuckled. Bucky was mildly surprised by the English accent. "Come in, come in. Let's see how she's doing."

Heading in, Bucky gently set the cat onto the examination table and said, "I found her in an alley. She didn't run from me or anything. I gave her water and food. Well, not cat food. I cooked some meat and some rice, but didn't season it. I looked up how to make food for cats. I just wanted to make sure she was--"

"Take a deep breath for me," Dr. Whitcher said, interrupting. He smiled softly, "I'm sure you did your best. As I'm sure Jarvis told you, my name is Meredith Whitcher. I'll be giving your cat a checkup and I suspect some medication for you to administer to her depending on how long she was on the street. Normally a vet tech would take down a lot of the things we're going to start out with but I decided it was probably the best that we work on this one on one."

Bucky took a deep breath and steadied himself while nodding, "Thank you."

"You're very welcome. Now I'll be starting by taking her temperature and listening to her heart and lungs. I'm also going to check her for a microchip, draw blood, and give her some vaccines. Beyond that, I need to know what your plan is."

"What do you mean?"

Dr. Whitcher smiled, "For her. If she's not microchipped and hasn't been reported missing, do you intend to keep her or would you like me to locate a home for her?"

"No, I…I want to keep her…if I can," Bucky said, twisting his hands nervously.

Dr. Whitcher smiled and Bucky watched as he first pulled out an odd looking device before running it over the cat. He then set it aside and ran his hands along the cat. He felt nervous watching the examination in a way he hadn't in years. A faint memory crept up and his throat tightened as he remembered a doctor visiting Steve during the winter, back when he'd get so sick they'd all feared he would die in his sleep.

"Is she okay?" Bucky whispered.

"Can you help hold her for a moment?"

Bucky nodded and gently pet the cat as Dr. Whitcher drew some blood. As he set some vials of blood to the side, he said, "As I suspected, she's got some fleas, so I'm going to send you home with materials so she can get cleaned up. It'll get rid of some of the fleas, but once her hair is dry, you'll apply flea medicine. I also have a few shots I can give to her to make sure she's up to date. There is one thing you should know though, and that is that I believe this cat is pregnant."

Bucky's eyes widened, "Do you know how far along?"

Dr. Whitcher shook his head, "Unfortunately, I cannot tell until I do an ultrasound on her. I can schedule her for one tomorrow, if you like."

Bucky nodded and ran his fingers through the cat's hair, smiling softly as she meowed loudly and stood up, stretching and bumping her head against his chin. "Should I…is there something specific I should do for her?"

"I'll put together a kit for you. We've got plenty of stuff here since both Potts and Stark make sure we're well stocked. You'll also be bringing her back here routinely throughout the pregnancy. We'll discuss signs of labor when it's closer to her due date and ideally I'll be there for the delivery. I'll also give you my phone number in case you see signs of distress in her or there's any bloody discharge."

The cat wandered around the counter and checked out things. Bucky watched her and wondered if it was selfish of him to keep this cat. Maybe he wasn't enough. Maybe this was the wrong move. Hell, what if Steve didn't want this, but just put up with it for him?

"Sergeant Barnes?"

"Sorry, did you ask me something?"

Dr. Whitcher smiled softly, "I just wanted to check in with you and make sure you're okay with continuing the vet visits with me. If you'd like, I can tell you a little bit about myself or I can suggest one of my colleagues."

"Um, the former," Bucky murmured, keeping an eye on the cat.

"Well, you've probably already guessed that I was born in England. I lived there most of my life before I came here for my partners and for this job. I've known Pepper and Maria for a few years so they recommended me for the job."

"The top of your cane looks like a bird," Bucky whispered.

Meredith's eyes lit up, "Yes. It's a cormorant. I have a few others with different animals as the top, but this one's my favorite. Got it for my birthday a few years ago, and it's rather fitting, a vet having a cane like this, don't you think?"

Bucky nodded before he cautiously asked, "What do you…what do you know about me?"

"I know that you are a war veteran and that you have been through a tremendous amount, things you shouldn't have had to go through, and I know that you care tremendously for this cat. You also seem to be very good with her."

"You've barely seen me with her. I could be a bastard."

Meredith chuckled, "I doubt that. This cat is happy and confident. You came in holding her gently and securely. She's not afraid of you. You're very concerned with her health and happiness. I do not believe you would be doing that if you were 'a bastard'."

Bucky took a deep breath before he said, "Do you think the kittens are okay?"

"I can't say for certain until the ultrasound, but their heartbeats sound strong and there are no indications that the mother is in any distress. And I will give you my personal number. If you'd like, you can text me any questions you have. Day and night. I will let you know if something is serious or if it's just an odd thing that cats do. You'll find that out very quickly," Meredith chuckled. "They cry at odd hours, they get rambunctious, and sometimes just flat out eat too quickly and make themselves sick. They're odd creatures in the most wonderful way."

"Yeah," Bucky chuckled. "A neighbor had one when I was growing up. We couldn't afford a pet. Too many mouths to feed as it was. Sometimes we would play with it. Sometimes it would just get up and run up the stairs and then back down. Nearly ran into a wall once." Meredith laughed and Bucky smiled before whispering, "Do you want me to pay for the stuff you're gonna give me? I have money. Steve made sure I had some for whatever I need."

Meredith shook his head and held up a hand. He then grabbed his cane and headed to the door in the back of the room before poking his head out and saying, "Can you bring me the new parent kit? Thank you." After a few moments, he stepped back and the woman from the front desk brought in a large box with a handle. She set it down and then left. Patting the top of it, he explained, "In this box is a beginner litter box, litter, food, some toys, the medications we talked about, and a brush. Ideally you'll get a second litter box for the apartment as well as other toys and furniture for the cat to play with. There's a pamphlet in there that describes appropriate things and the places to get them."

"Thank you," Bucky said, feeling the tightness in his chest loosen. The cat walked back over to him and meowed. It almost sounded like a chirp though and he couldn't help but chuckle. Holding out his metal hand, he smiled wider as she nuzzled it. Grabbing the box of supplies, he smiled when Meredith picked up the cat and set it on top of the box.

"Sergeant Barnes, you're going to do great."

"Call me Bucky."

"Only if you'll call me Meredith," Meredith said with a grin. He then said, "And since you have your hands full, I'll have Jarvis give you my information. It'll go straight to your phone. Your next appointment will also be put into your calendar."

Bucky nodded and carried everything back into the elevator. Once he was inside, he stared into the cat's blue eyes and sighed, "Well, I don't think Steve and Viv are going to expect this when they get back home. Might as well get you cleaned up before they get back."

The cat purred and nuzzled his chin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick fun facts before the announcement.  
> 1.) Meredith Whitcher is based on a friend but is not their real name. I got their permission before including them and they already signed off on everything they do in this chapter.  
> 2.) Dracula does exist in the comics and at least one cartoon and is a vampire. Vampires are real in my story. There's a very funny episode of Avengers Assemble where Natasha is temporarily turned into a vampire. Well, not all funny, but her running into a mirror 'cause she can't see her own reflection is objectively funny.  
> 3.) Alpine is Bucky's cat from the comics but the actual personality of Alpine (and the fact that she has long hair) is based on a cat I had named Fabio. He was extremely confident to the point of walking into strangers' homes and just making himself comfortable, so if you think the cat is too confident and trusting to be realistic, please know that I didn't just pull that out of nowhere.
> 
> Finally, the announcement: I don't want to have to do this, but I have to make a blanket rule about the comment section. I love receiving comments. I really, really do. I do my best to reply to every single one because I want y'all to know that I am reading them and I do love them. That being said, for a while now, an anon or anons (I don't know if it's more than one person or not) have been leaving passive aggressive and sometimes just aggressive messages saying I hate Tony Stark and in one just trying to start a fight about the MCU in general. I do not hate Tony Stark. Nothing in my stories has demonstrated anything of the sort. I am extremely uncomfortable with the repeated nature of these comments and from now on comments of this nature, comments that seem to be designed just to harass me, will be deleted. I don't wanna have to do this. If the problem persists, I will be turning off anon messages. I really don't wanna do that.


	18. Eighteen: 2016

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: discussions of existential dread and also discussions of a sex tape
> 
> Per usual, if I missed a warning or if you think something needs to be tagged, let me know.

"You figure out what you're going to name her?" Steve asked, crouching down.

Bucky paused as he brushed the cat, a soft smile on his face as she meowed and got up, nuzzling the metal hand. He tsked and produced a treat, the smile growing wider as she ate from his hand. Once that was done, Bucky shrugged and said, "I think so. Maybe. I honestly wasn't expecting to be able to keep her. Figured someone would have been looking for her, especially since she's got kittens on the way. Dr. Whitcher reassured me though that no one is looking for her. I don't know how, she's so sweet."

"Well, she's fluffy and white, maybe Snow?" Steve suggested, sitting next to Bucky.

Bucky sent him a stare and scoffed, "I'm not naming this cat _Snow_ , Steve. It's just…she deserves a better name than that."

"Viv give you any good name ideas then?" Steve asked.

Bucky rolled his eyes, "I think she was hungry. She suggested Coconut and Marshmallow. I asked her if she was going to suggest Sugar next and she told me I was on my own. She also threatened to bring her own stray home, so be prepared for that."

Steve smiled, "All right, since you hate all of our ideas, what's yours?"

"Alpine."

"So you dismissed snow only to name her after a place where it snows?"

Bucky glared, "I like the word. And she seems to like it too, but I'm giving it a few days before I fully settle on it."

"Oh, then my apologies. It's a great name," Steve chuckled, raising his hands apologetically.

Bucky sighed and set a few more treats on the ground before he said, "Alpine plants flourish in rough terrain. High up on the sides of mountains, way above the treeline, sometimes even in the snow."

Steve's heart clenched and he swallowed hard before he quietly said, "Bucky…"

Bucky glanced at him and smiled softly, "Hey, c'mon, I didn't tell you that to make you sad, gorgeous."

"I just…"

"I know, you sap," Bucky chuckled. "Besides, Vivian reacted basically the same way."

"Where is she anyway?" Steve asked, glancing around.

"Lunch with friends. She got informed by Jarvis that she's not allowed to skip now that she's been to one. Apparently Natasha threatened to hunt her down."

Steve chuckled, "Yeah, that sounds like something they would do." He then held out a hand and smiled as Alpine approached and nuzzled his hand. "Doc say how long until the kittens will be here?"

"About a month, although we're not sure. She's got at least six kittens."

"You going to keep any of the kittens?" Steve asked.

"I don't know," Bucky shrugged. "Maybe? Depends on a lot of things. I've already had interest from a few people, so I was thinking about giving a kitten to a few different people."

"Oh really, like who?"

"Natasha, Meredith, and Bruce for certain. Viv said she'd figure out if Pepper, Kate or Sharon wants a kitten. After everyone who wants a kitten gets one, if there are any left, I'll keep them."

"I'm proud of your restraint," Steve teased, leaning over to kiss Bucky's cheek to be delighted as Bucky turned and kissed him back instead. He moved closer only to pause as Bucky placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back.

"Hey, Steve, have you heard from Thor lately?"

Steve sat back and shook his head, "After the last Hydra bust, Thor 'bid us farewell' and then left. Didn't really talk to any of us. He hasn't been texting much either."

"So we still don't know what's bothering him?"

Steve shook his head and sighed, "I don't know for sure. I really do think something happened between him and Jane, because when I asked him if he was going to see Jane before he left, he didn't answer."

"Maybe we should text him," Bucky said, pulling out his phone. "I just want to make sure he's okay." Steve smiled widely, but then chuckled when Bucky glanced up at him and sighed, "Put away the puppy eyes, Rogers."

"Can't," Steve said, sliding over and straddling Bucky's lap. "My boyfriend's over here just being too fucking good."

"Your standards are really low," Bucky whispered, brushing his lips against Steve's.

"Are you two going to fuck in the middle of our living room floor? You know stuff like that is why Sam doesn't visit us anymore, right?"

Glancing over at Vivian, Steve nodded to the shopping bags around her, "You have fun at lunch?"

"Yeah, it was a short lunch and then they dragged me shopping," Vivian said. She then sighed, "I think they all just mostly wanted to tease me over my choices since the last time I made any real shopping decisions of my own, it was 2004, and the fashion trends were…bad. Probably some of it was so I have more things that are…mine."

"Viv," Steve whispered.

"Oh no, I brought out those puppy eyes," Vivian laughed, sitting down next to Steve. Leaning toward her, Steve kissed her softly, smiling as she kissed him back. As his hands started to roam, he groaned as she ended the kiss to whisper, "Speaking of puppy eyes, I texted Thor, and he's going to stop by soon."

"When did you text him?" Bucky asked, leaning on his elbows.

"During lunch," Vivian said, smiling softly at them both.

Steve couldn't help but just stare at both of them lovingly. They were his whole heart. He ran his fingers through Bucky's hair, tucking it behind his ear as he whispered, "Sometimes I just can't believe how lucky I am."

"He been like this all day?" Vivian asked, laughing slightly.

Bucky nodded as he said, "Yeah. A big sap."

Steve opened his mouth to retort, but then could only burst into laughter as Alpine strolled over and stretched before climbing up onto Bucky's chest and curling up. Her purr was loud and Steve shook his head, "Well, I guess Alpine has spoken."

Bucky sighed and blew some cat hair off his face before he admitted, "It's my fault. After she was declared flea free, I started letting her lay on me, so now she thinks I'm a bed."

"I can definitely relate to that," Vivian grinned, scooting closer and petting Alpine. "You're incredibly comfy, Buck."

"She's right," Steve added, nodding solemnly.

Bucky rolled his eyes, "Glad you two are enjoying yourselves." Steve knew he wasn't really annoyed, that he was pleased with all of this, especially as Vivian leaned over and kissed him.

"So other than naming our cat and being cute, what did you two do while I was gone?" Vivian asked, laying down on the ground next to Bucky, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Got a call from Matt," Steve admitted cautiously. When both of them stared at him, he admitted, "We're getting close to a deal on your case, but Matt's more worried about something he overheard someone mention."

"What was it?" Vivian asked, sitting up.

"Just some whispers," Steve said, gently squeezing Vivian's hand to reassure her. "Apparently the government is getting anxious about powered people in general, but especially mutants. It won't be long before they try to come up with some plan to…I don't know."

Bucky sat up, holding Alpine close to his chest, but then letting her go after she squirmed slightly. He then rubbed a hand over his face before he asked, "Do you think they'll…I don't even know what to ask. Just…should we be worried?"

"Probably," Vivian shrugged, laying back down.

"Viv," Steve sighed.

"Don't 'Viv' me, Steve. If the government is getting anxious about us existing, it's only a matter of time before they try to do some invasive policy. They've tried it before. I, for one, am looking forward to finally becoming a citizen only to have my rights violated in a whole new way. It's gonna be an adventure."

" _Vivian_ ," Steve said, reaching over and gently cupping a hand behind her neck. He pulled her close and looked into her eyes. She was doing that thing where she was pretending she didn't care, pretended she wasn't afraid, but he could see it in her eyes and in the way every inch of her was tense. "I'm not gonna let that happen."

"You can't guarantee that," Vivian said, leaning into his touch. "You're amazing, but you can't control everything. And not everyone agrees that helping people like me is the right thing to do."

"Thor is requesting permission to come to your floor."

Steve was about to respond when Vivian stood up and stretched while she said, "Let him up, Jarvis."

"Viv, we need to finish this conversation," Steve said, standing up and helping Bucky up.

"None of us want the government to do anything like that, but Viv is right that we can't control everything. And right now you're not willing to think of a backup plan, so we all need to do that before we talk about this again," Bucky said.

"I'll come up with a plan," Steve conceded. "But this conversation isn't over."

"Didn't think it would be," Vivian said, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

Steve smiled, but then frowned when Thor walked in wearing a _hoodie_ of all things. He wasn't even aware that Thor owned one of those. His 'normal' outfits tended to be more tailored and put together. Steve met Thor halfway and clapped a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, you okay?"

Thor shook his head and cleared his throat, "Unfortunately, dear friend, my head and heart are weary."

"Come on in," Steve said, wrapping an arm around Thor's shoulders.

"Are you certain that I am not intruding?"

"Yeah, bud, we're certain," Bucky said, coming over and squeezing Thor's shoulder. "Besides, I told you that you could talk to me. And I know Steve and Viv feel the same way, so c'mon, sit down."

Thor nodded and Steve gently led him to the table. Vivian brought over glasses of water before sitting down as well. For a moment, the four of them just sat there while Thor sat at the table until he finally cleared his throat and said, "Lady Jane and I are no longer…"

He trailed off and Vivian reached over, squeezing his hand. Thor smiled weakly before he continued, "I believe the Midgardian phrase is 'broken up'. Before this happened, I found the wording strange. Now it seems perfect."

"What happened?" Steve whispered. "I thought you guys were doing really well."

Thor frowned, "Jane was…I was never dishonest with her or withheld any truths from her about myself. And yet during her time in Asgard, my lady saw the…festivities. She overheard the Warriors Three reminisce over our training and _everything_ that entailed. She knew that I had been with them as well as Lady Sif and others and for a time, Jane did not wish to know…"

"She didn't want to know the details," Bucky supplied.

Thor nodded, "Aye. The details of such acts caused her discomfort. After overhearing the details, she began seeking more answers. She met more of my paramours and came to believe that I would become unhappy with our circumstances, that I would seek other lovers outside of her or try to encourage her to accept such additions to our relationship. When I returned, she sought to know if I _missed_ those arrangements. I was, as I always have been, honest with her and confessed there were times I missed such things, but they did not compare to the depth of my love for her."

Steve rubbed Thor's back, his heart aching as Thor let out a shaky breath and continued, "She desired to know if I would always be content with such an arrangement, for she was certain she would never desire anything outside of monogamy. I assured her I'd never request such a change from her and then honestly said I could not see the future. I did not wish to mislead her. She requested time and I gave her that. When I returned, she apologized, but said she couldn't let go of the thoughts of what I 'preferred'. She could not get past the fear that I would desire more than she was capable of and…"

Thor shook his head and his voice became choked, "I attempted to reassure her, but I could not give her the guarantees that she desired. We spoke for hours. I explained that I would do anything for her, and she said she did not wish for me to sacrifice parts of myself for her. I have never…I have had relationships with all those that I have been with, but our parting was never…"

Thor put his face in his hands and Steve shared a concerned glance with the others before he said, "I'm so sorry, Thor. I can't say I know what this is like, but I can say for certain that it's going to be okay eventually. You're not alone in this, and you can come by whenever you want. We even have a spare bedroom if you don't want to be alone."

"Steve's right," Bucky added. "Anything you need, we're here for you."

Vivian moved closer and gently took Thor's hand into hers. Thor glanced at each of them before he whispered, "I love her."

"We know, and she loves you too," Vivian whispered, squeezing his hand.

"I knew that one day I would need to say goodbye to her, but I did not foresee that it would be…"

"Why do you say that?" Steve asked curiously.

"Midgardians don't live as long as Asgardians do," Thor said, smiling softly. "We live thousands of your Earth years. Your lives are, in comparison, fleeting. A beautiful spark in the night that fades just as quickly. And that was yet another reason Jane chose to leave. She realized that she could grow old with me, but I could not grow old with her."

"Had you two not talked about that before?" Bucky asked.

Thor shook his head, "We had passing conversations. I informed her both of my years and that of the years of my people and previously it had been merely a point of fascination."

"It was probably something in the back of her mind for a while," Vivian said gently. "It's honestly not easy for people to accept. Before Steve and Bucky got the serum, I was trying to figure out how to have that conversation with them, because I knew there was a very good chance I would outlive them, and I had no idea by how much. I still don't know how much longer than them I'm going to live."

Steve felt his heart leap into his throat as he whispered, "Vivian, you didn't tell me that before."

"I honestly hadn't thought about it in a while," Vivian said with a shrug. After a moment, she sighed and explained, "I was going to tell you guys after the war. Except the war didn't end for me. And then I swore to myself if I got out alive that I would tell both of you. And then Bucky got captured and I thought you died. And then you were alive and by then my only goal was to get Bucky out of that place alive. And then I was out and I was with you and all I could think about was getting Bucky to stay and I don't know…I just had this frantic feeling of filling every moment with something, because I wasn't sure how long I'd get to stick around."

"Aye," Thor said, smiling softly. "In my youth, I thought of only the present. The future was for minds far more burdened than that of my own. Ever since my fair Jane confessed her fears to me, I find that the future has become…a fearsome thing to behold. This group has become beloved to me and I dread the day I will have to say goodbye to all of you."

"Viv, you're not going anywhere," Steve said, reaching over and squeezing Vivian's hand. "You've got us." He then grabbed Thor's hand and said, "And you've got us too. Probably not for your entire life, but we're not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Thank you. You are all wonderous friends." Alpine hopped up onto the table and came over, flopping over onto her side and meowing. Thor chuckled and gently stroked Alpine's hair.

"Her name's Alpine," Bucky said, smiling proudly.

Thor nodded, "Wilson discussed the cat at great length. He spoke highly of the restorative properties of having such a companion."

"You ask or did he just volunteer the information?" Vivian asked, grinning. "I'm betting he volunteered it."

Thor nodded, "It is true that he did propose the topic change himself."

"It's Sam's way to remind us to take care of ourselves without feeling like he's our therapist," Steve reminded them all, glancing at both Viv and Bucky. They both sent him apologetic smiles and he chuckled, shaking his hand. Focusing back on Thor, Steve added, "You're always welcome here, Thor. And even if Bucky wanted to keep Alpine all to himself, I don't think this cat would allow that. She's a little bit of an attention hog."

Bucky scoffed, "She is not. The fact that we're all weak doesn't mean anything about her. She doesn't _make_ anyone pet her." He was gesturing with his hand and as if Alpine was trying to prove him wrong, she got up and moved over, shoving her head against her hand and then, when he tried to pull away, grabbed his hand and brought it back to her face. "That doesn't count."

"Sure," Vivian laughed.

Steve felt like he was gonna burst with pride as Bucky looked over at Thor and reassured him, "Steve's right though. You're always welcome here. Hell, we have a spare bedroom, so you can even stay here for a while if you need to."

Thor's smile was tinged with sadness, his voice a little more ragged as he said, "That is a most gracious offer. I believe Stark has a floor of my own for me if I were to choose to use it." He then shook his head and stood up, "Lady Jane has requested that we have a final exchanging of belongings that I must attend to in London. After that, would the invitation still--"

"That invitation does not have any expiration date," Vivian insisted, smiling softly.

Thor smiled softly, "Thank you." Steve was prepared to dismiss that, and say no thanks were necessary when Thor gently cupped his face in his hand and asked, "May I kiss each of you?"

"Yes," Steve whispered, feeling a little breathless. He leaned up, feeling his stomach clench as Thor kissed him. At first it was soft and slow, but then it got more demanding. Thor's fingers were in his hair and he gasped as his bottom lip was gently nipped. He blushed bright red though as the kiss ended and he lost his footing, landing back in his chair and startling the cat off the table.

Vivian was grinning at him and Steve turned to see if Bucky was looking at him the same way only to feel a shiver run down his spine as he saw Thor kissing him deeply. Bucky seemed to have an easier time keeping his feet and had his hands on Thor's hips. Or at least he did until Thor gently gripped his hair. Bucky moaned into the kiss and Thor gently lowered him back onto the chair before ending the kiss. He gave one last quick kiss before moving to Vivian.

Steve shared a glance with Bucky before they both watched Vivian grin and hop up onto the table. Vivian returned the kiss with gusto and her fingers went into Thor's hair. Little gasps and moans had Steve's pulse rise. He blushed though as Bucky moved closer and whispered into his ear, "Y'know, I can't tell which you liked more, being dominated by Thor in that kiss or watching him with us."

"You were the same way," Steve whispered back. Glancing back, he chuckled as Vivian lay back across the table as Thor chuckled and then kissed her hand.

"Farewell, my friends," Thor said, moving over. Steve blushed as his hand was kissed as well as Bucky's. Thor's voice was damn near velvety as he promised, "I will return to your side swiftly so we may…continue our endeavors."

Steve nodded dumbly and watched as Thor got into the elevator and left. The three of them stayed like that for several minutes until the elevator came back and Clint stepped out, slurping a big gulp cup that Steve was almost certain was filled with iced coffee. Upon seeing them, Clint paused mid slurp and stared at them for a moment before asking, "What happened to you three?"

"We found out why Thor's sad," Steve said, nodding slowly. His signing felt sluggish, although it didn't look sluggish.

"Okay, so how bad is it?" Clint said, walking over and pulling up a chair to sit down.

Steve couldn't help but smile as Vivian, refusing to sit up it seemed, raised her arms straight into the air to sign as she said, "Jane broke up with him."

"Okay, that sucks. Still doesn't tell me why you three look so wrecked."

"Thor kissed us," Bucky said bluntly.

"Thor's kissed you before," Clint pointed out.

Vivian actually sat up this time as she said, "Yes, but this time it was after being reassured that when he gets back from London, we can all fuck."

For a moment Clint just stood there before he gaped and hissed, "You three are gonna have sex with Thor? That's gonna be amazing. God, I've wanted to get fucked by Thor for a _while_."

"Yeah, well, when we're done with him, we'll send him up to you," Vivian said, laying back down.

Clint snorted and sat in one of the chairs, shaking his head as he glanced at all of them. For a moment they just sat there in comfortable silence, but then Steve groaned as Clint smirked and asked, "So, any chance of my being able to at least, y'know, watching it happen?"

"Jarvis could probably help you with that," Vivian mused.

" _Viv_ ," Steve whispered, his cheeks turning bright red.

"I for one would appreciate having a copy of it just in case I lose my memory again," Bucky mused.

"Not funny," Steve and Vivian both said in unison.

At that moment, Alpine meowed loudly and ran in, jumping up onto the table only to walk across Vivian to then leap over into Bucky's lap. Clint shook his head, "I can't believe Bucky just got scolded by a cat."

"She shushed Steve earlier," Vivian said, grinning widely.

Steve rolled his eyes, "She did not shush me."

"Nah, it wasn't shushing you at all, babe," Bucky said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Our cat just came up to you while you were talkin' and pressed her paw against your mouth 'cause she wanted you to keep going."

Clint snorted, but then asked, "So, what does this bring you guys to in terms of the Kissing Avengers Contest?"

"Steve's still the furthest ahead in that," Vivian said, sitting up. "Bucky's furthest behind with just kissing Thor. I've kissed Thor and Tony. Steve's kissed you, Thor, and Natasha."

"Damn, Steve," Clint teased. "Kiss Bruce and Tony and you'd have a full house."

"You forgot Sam," Vivian pointed out.

Steve shook his head, "I'm not kissing Tony, and I don't think Sam or Bruce want to kiss me."

"Are you saying you _do_ want to kiss Bruce?" Vivian asked curiously. "I mean, I know about your bad flirting with Sam, but just didn't know Bruce is also what did it for you."

Steve sighed, "I never should have told any of you about Sam."

"As if you could ever hide anything from us without it turning into a guilt confession you blurted out to us a day later at three in the morning," Bucky scoffed, gently petting Alpine who was purring loud enough to be heard across the room.

Clint shook his head, but then Steve sighed as Clint grinned widely. That was always a sign that he'd gotten an idea. Standing up, he nearly bounced over to Bucky's side before he asked, "So, do you wanna up your count on the kissing thing? I mean, you should _at least_ be tied with Vivian."

"I like to pretend the kiss with Stark doesn't count, so if that's allowed then we are tied," Vivian mused, staring up at the ceiling.

"It counts," Bucky retorted. He stopped petting Alpine and she only tolerated that for about a few seconds before she got up and jumped back onto the table to curl up on Vivian's stomach. Vivian immediately pet her while grinning widely.

Steve would deny it later, but he moved his chair a little bit to the left so he could watch Bucky and Clint better as Bucky then reached up and pulled Clint down, kissing him hard on the lips. They were…very pretty. Steve felt his cheeks get red as Clint had to brace himself on the chair, kissing back with a gusto that Steve was _very_ familiar with.

After the kiss ended, Clint looked a little dazed, but then glared as Bucky gently stroked his cheek and teased, "You're amazing…but not as good as Thor."

Clint huffed and stumbled off, grabbing his coffee from where he set it down and announcing, "I mean, I know that, but you don't have to _say it_. Besides, Steve, tell your boyfriend how many orgasms I gave you, because I gave you a lot."

Steve shook his head, "Don't drag me into this. You're the one who thinks this is some competition when it's not. Also, I don't think my kiss with Nat should count since she kissed me just to hide us from Hydra agents. Plus, it was just kind of awkward."

"Wait, you thought kissing Nat was awkward?" Clint asked incredulously.

Steve nodded, pulling a face, "Yeah. I mean, we were friends, but not really close, and I was still in mourning."

"You kissed me voluntarily before you kissed her though."

Steve blushed bright red and cleared his throat before he said, "I don't know…it was just different. She's gorgeous, but the kiss just…"

"Ohhh," Clint sighed and nodded. "Can't relate, but I get it." He then paused and grinned, "But I am going to tell Nat you said that."

"She didn't think it was a good kiss either," Steve retorted only to realize he really wasn't helping himself. His cheeks went bright red and he rolled his eyes as Clint cackled.

Clint got up and moved over, kissing him loudly on the cheek before teasing, "It's okay, Cap. The three of us think you're a good kisser. I don't know what Thor or Bathroom Bob thought."

Steve rolled his eyes and sighed, "Has anyone ever told you that you're a little obsessed with our sex lives?"

Clint pointed over at Bucky. Steve arched an eyebrow at his boyfriend only to snort when Bucky shrugged, "What? He had that look on his face when I mentioned us working out together. He then even said, 'Oh, working out, huh? I bet you were' as if we're not spotted working out multiple times a week."

"Why do you guys do that anyway?" Clint demanded. "Two of you have the super serum, and one of you is basically an immortal."

"Hey, Clint?" Vivian sighed. "Why do you pretend you're a lazy bum in conversations when I've seen you work out at night at a level that puts you on par with Olympic athletes?"

Clint grumbled and started to leave, but before he did so, he turned to them and grinned, "Congrats on the court case though. Matt says you guys should have an agreement soon, so just let us all know what kind of party you guys wanna have down in DC. And if it involves nudity, definitely invite me."

Clint then stepped back onto the elevator and Steve groaned when as soon as the doors to the elevator closed, Vivian said, "So, we're definitely making a sex tape with Thor and giving Clint a copy, right?"

"Might as well," Bucky shrugged.

"We cannot have a sex tape," Steve stressed. "If that thing ever leaked, Pepper would find all four of us and light us on fire."

"Eh, 'has a sex tape' honestly would be the least offensive thing I've been accused of," Vivian argued. Steve stared blankly at her, but then sighed heavily as she paused and then said, "But we do have to make sure it doesn't get out for at least a few months since I put my name on a list of potential people to adopt a pit bull from a rescue organization and I don't want to give them _any_ reason to not choose me."

"I told you she was gonna bring home a stray," Bucky said, holding up his hands.

For a moment Steve just stared at them, but as they smiled at him, he couldn't help but smile back as he chuckled, "All right. I'm glad you probably found a dog. And we will discuss the sex tape aspect _with Thor_ when we're all together since we can't actually make a decision without him." Both Vivian and Bucky nodded at that and Steve rubbed his eyes and made a mental note to come up with an option that was not a sex tape since if they did that, Tony would _absolutely never let them live that down_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone was curious, the big gulp Clint is drinking out of is 44 ounces/1.3 liters. He has a coffee problem and at some point in fiction, he's gonna have to take a break from caffeine and he's gonna annoy every single person in the building.
> 
> Apologies to anyone who super ships Thor/Jane, but they're not gonna get back together in this fic. Thor and Jane loved each other tremendously, will always love each other tremendously in fact, but they both needed and wanted different things. Jane wanted and needed someone who would both be happy with monogamy and be able to grow old with her. Thor, if he's honest with himself, cannot fulfill either of those things. It doesn't make either of them bad people and neither side is better for what they want in a relationship. It's just different.
> 
> In happier news, here's a gif of a cat I think looks like Alpine:  
> 


End file.
